Nine tourists from Pune were arrested for first trying to photograph a minor girl playing on the beach and later assaulting her and her minor brother, after the victim, protested for being photographed by them.

The incident occurred at the famous Baga beach located around 20 km north of the State capital, where the minor children along with their parents had gone for a swim, while the tourists were at a beach shack.

“We have arrested nine tourists from Pune for molesting the minor girl, assaulting her brother and later causing rioting. The minor girl had asked them not to take photographs with their mobile phones, which led to the eventual incident, where she was molested and her brother beaten up,” Police Inspector Jivba Dalvi told The Pioneer.

The tourists were holidaying in the State for the past few days, the official said, adding that the group was arrested while trying to escape the State. A first information report has been registered under sections 143, 147, 323, 354 r/w 149 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 8 of Goa Children’s Act. The names of the accused tourists are Ramesh Kamble, Sanket Bhadale, Krishna Patil, Satyam lambe, Aniket Gurav, Rishikesh Gurav, Akash Suvaskar, Sunny More and Ishwar Pangare and are residents of Pune town in Maharashtra. 

A first information report has been registered under sections 143, 147, 323, 354 r/w 149 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 8 of Goa Children’s Act.

Goa is one of the top beach tourism destinations in the country and attracts more than six million tourists every year, but over the last few days, crimes involving tourists — including a gangrape of a local girl by tourists from MP — have triggered a sentiment against domestic tourism.