A local court on Thursday remanded in five days’ judicial custody nine of the 11 tourists from Pune who were arrested for allegedly molesting a minor girl and beating her minor brother at a beach near Goa.
“Judicial Magistrate First Class at Mapusa remanded the nine accused to five-day judicial custody and were sent to a correction facility at Colvale in North Goa district,” Calangute police inspector Jivba Dalvi said.
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The other two accused, who are juveniles (aged 15), have been sent to a protection home near, he added.
The victims — a 17-year-old boy and his 16-year-old sister — were on May 29 sitting in a shack at the Baga beach in North Goa while their parents were having food nearby.
At that time, a group of 11 visitors, who arrived from Pune district in the neighbouring Maharashtra state, started clicking pictures of the girl, Dalvi said.
“When the boy objected to the group taking photos of his sister, they allegedly slapped and beat him,” he said, quoting the complaint filed by parents of the siblings.
The Calangute police had on Wednesday arrested all the accused before they could leave the state.
Besides the two juveniles, the other nine accused are in the age group of 18 to 30 years, police said.
The accused included some students and salesmen working in different companies.
Offences were registered against all the accused under IPC sections 354 (molestation), 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting) and 323 (causing hurt), and relevant provisions of the Goa Children’s Act, the police added.
The alleged sexual assault of minor girl is the second incident of crime against women in the month of May in Goa.
On May 27, Goa Police arrested three people in connection with a gang-rape case at Colva.
A woman was allegedly raped by three men on a beach in South Goa district.
The victim, who hails from a nearby village, had also claimed that the sexual assault was filmed by the alleged rapists and she was blackmailed by them against informing the police.
The three accused were tourists from Indore.