Goa tourist harassment case: A celebrity DJ has alleged that a police officer misbehaved with her and her friends after stopping their car for a routine check late at night in North Goa earlier this week. The DJ, who is a foreign national, alleged that the police officer was “choking on power”, “spoke rudely” and told them to go to their country.
Goa police said they have contacted the complainant and an inquiry has been initiated.
In a post on social media, the DJ, who goes by the stage name ‘Krispie Kristina’, said the incident took place on Wednesday around midnight when she and her three friends were going from Siolim to Morjim in a car. She said a police officer pulled them over for inspection, though “only female police officers have the right to stop women.”
“From the very beginning he was very very rude. It was immediately obvious that this wasn’t his first time. He was already choking on his power and impunity. And from many friends I have heard that it is a normal situation there,” she said in a post on social media. She said the police officer “spoke very aggressively, rudely and started saying ‘Go to your country, you’re not in your country’.”
“When we showed him our driver’s license, he said, ‘okay go’. And when my friend started to drive away, he called her a ‘bitch’ and said ‘fuck off’,” she claimed.
“Can you imagine? In a tourist state, a state that functions only thanks to tourists, the police allow themselves to be so lawless and literally kick tourists out. It’s a shame we didn’t film it, but I was afraid to even take out my phone because he was so aggressive,” she said. She said the police officer insulted her friend and called her names.
In a video on Instagram, she said, “This is how Goa treats tourists. As a tourist, I don’t feel myself safety [safe] here at all. It’s very very very sad.” In another post on Saturday afternoon, she said she was on the way to a police station after the police reached out to them.
Earlier this month, The Indian Express reported two other incidents of harassment in Goa’s coastal belt, sparking concerns about the safety of women at beaches, especially among solo travellers. A video, purportedly showing a group of men harassing and groping two foreign women while clicking photographs with them at Arambol beach, went viral on social media in the first week of November. Police lodged an FIR in the case and arrested the accused.
