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By Murari Shetye, TNN | Dec 28, 2012, 03.17 AM IST

PANAJI: The year 2012 started started with the betrayal of teacher-student relations. The first rape case of the year was registered against Kanhaiya Naik, a married art teacher, who allegedly raped his student. It was the first of around 50 rape cases this year.

Till November 2012, 982 cases have been registered across the state, across crimes. Police have registered 42 murder cases, 50 rape cases, four dacoity cases, 23 robbery cases, 820 thefts and 46 drug cases.

Compared to last year, rape cases have increased by 29, to 50 cases (till November), and a majority of victims are minors, while the accused persons are teachers, friends or unidentified persons.

The first case came to light on January, 18, 2012, when Naik was arrested by Panaji police for allegedly raping his student. On December 29, 2011, Naik picked up the girl from her residence, stating that he would give her career guidance, and took her to his flat at Ribandar. Police sources said that Naik clicked photographs of the girl and molested her. The incident came to light on December 31, 2011, when the girl’s mother saw some marks on her neck. Sources said that when her mother questioned her, she revealed that Naik had molested her.

After Naik was granted bail on July 10, 2012, the victim committed suicide, succumbing to 90% burn injuries. Naik was again arrested for abetment of suicide and later, he was released on bail. Police have filed a chargesheet in the case.

In another case in January, a16-year-old girl was raped in a bus at Dona Paula. Police registered a case of rape and arrested 22-year-old Shrikant Baranappa of Hubli.

The girl had gone to work at a house in Taleigao, as her mother, who was working as a domestic help at the house, had fallen ill. As she found the house locked, she sat at a garden in Taleigao waiting for her mother’s employers to return, when she met Baranappa, who was known to her.

The girl said Baranappa approached her and told her that it was unsafe to sit alone in the garden and that he would drop her home on his bike. Since she knew the man and trusted him, the girl went with him but instead of taking her home, Baranappa took her to Dona Paula, pushed her into a parked bus and then raped her there.

Police added that Baranappa forcibly kept the girl in the bus throughout the night and only allowed her to go in the morning, after threatening her that if she told anyone about the incident, he would trace her and kill her. Frightened, the victim, instead of going home to her parents, went to her grandparents’ home in Hubli, police said. She was then convinced to return to Goa and narrated the incident to her mother and the mother lodged a complaint. Police have filed the chargesheeted in the case.

On September 26, 2012, an unidentified person took a minor girl to Panaji and after confining her to his house in Porvorim, raped her. He later handed the victim over to another unidentified person, who took her to Miramar beach and molested her. After confining her to his house till October 6, he brought the minor to Margao and left her at the KTC bus stand. While at the KTC bus stand, Wassim Kalaigar, a resident of Margao, got acquainted with the minor and took her to an ice cream parlour at Margao, where he too raped her. Kalaigar then brought her back to the KTC bus stand, Margao, from where she left for Panaji.

After the victim’s relatives noticed her in Panaji, they dropped her back to her house and after the victim narrated the incident, a case was lodged at Margao police station. Three accused are released on bail, while two are in judicial lockup. The case is under investigation.

In December, a 16-year old girl was raped by two persons at two different locations, while one of the accused was a classmate of the victim and also a minor.

Police sources told TOI that the accused lured the girl to a cinema hall to watch a movie after skipping classes. Both are students of a higher secondary school near Margao. After watching the movie together, he forcibly took her to a toilet within the complex and had sexual intercourse with her.

The minor accused then called up one of his friends and asked him to meet him at the nearby KTC bus stand, Margao. The other accused person then came to the KTC bus stand on a bike, and forcibly took her to some unidentified, isolated place, where he also raped her. The accused also took video clippings of the act.

Police have arrested the minor boy and kept him in a protective home. The unidentified person is yet to be traced.