15-yr-old tourist dead in Goa. Take travel tips seriously

You are right, Nita. From our/India's point of view, we need to keep the focus on the case, not her family background.
It is after all a case of drugs, rape and murder, and all of them are illegal.

a) If she was drugged, someone sold it to her, and that is illegal.
b) If she was drugged/drunk, there's no question about consenting to sex, because she was obviously not in the right frame of mind to make a decision.
c) The cops have tried to cover up once. They don't have an excuse anymore.

And about the typos, I got the meaning, Nita, so no worries :)

Good to see you here.
Snigdha

Snigdha I have made several errors in my comment.
There is one sentence in which I said:
//even consensual rape with a minor is rape. I//
I meant consensual sex!
Also vigorously is spelt wrong.
sorry!
Nita ( http://nitawriter.wordpress.com/ )

Hi Snigdha.
About this incident it's interesting to see how differently the british media covered this incident and the way the Indian media did. Initially the British media went to town about the cover up (rightly so) and the Indian media was not reporting so vigourously on this incident at all. Then the British media seems to have gone to the other extreme, blaming the mother for her behavior. The Indian media and people are very sympathetic to the family although Goans are not.
Whatever the situation, Scarlett is but a child, and in India even consensual rape with a minor is rape. In any case this was more than consensual sex, she was definitely assaulted and I wonder why it was necessary to hurt her if she was already drugged as they say she was. There is more to this case than the police are saying and Fiona is right in demanding a CBI probe.
Don't know what will happen, but the fact is that Scarlett was just a child and anyone who took advantage of her should be severely punished.

Nita ( http://nitawriter.wordpress.com/ )

That's a mature thought, Chickable. It's odd parenting, no doubt.

But for the girl's sake I hope the focus remains on the investigation into the rape and murder. Goa seriously needs some cleaning up. How can a place with such strict laws against drugs be a haven for the same?

Obviously law enforcement is a part of the problem.

Thank you for stopping by.
Snigdha

Yes, I read that too, Kim. She alleges it is "scaremongering" .

It's painful indeed because the mother still harbors hopes of settling in Goa. It seems like she's on state benefits in her own country.

I don't know how all this will work out for her.

Thanks
Snigdha

Pam, your comments are absolutely to the point. This is the kind of trap we tend to fall into when we are tourists.

The tourism industry is geared to make you feel good and relaxed. They'll tell you what you want to hear so you stick around, enjoy and return to spend some more.

But once you break the law, the security net called "tourism" goes for a toss.

This case is particularly sad because the idea of a 15-old-year drinking, drug-taking girl being left behind by her mother with a new local "boyfriend" is so alien to the local culture that (as a blogger has reported) people are losing sympathy for the family.

I hope the media and citizens there constantly strive to keep the two separate : what could've been done to prevent this and what needs to be done now to nab the criminals.

Thanks!
Snigdha

Absolutely, Cooper. At the end of the day, no amount of blame-games can help recover such a loss. Is it that hard to keep our wits about ourselves in a new place?

Thanks!
Snigdha

I believe a 15 year old girl in a foreign country without proper supervision is a recipe for disaster. A 25 year male tour guide is not supervision, its trouble. Plenty-o-blame to go around here but regardless, police have a job to do.

chickable ( http://chickable.com )
life's a chick trip

The police say they want her to cooperate with the investigation.

I wonder, like everyone else, why she left her daughter there.

I imagine those questions will haunt her for the rest of her life.
This story is terribly, terribly sad.

Kim
BlogHer Contributing Editor ( http://blogher.org/blog/kim-pearson )|Professor Kim ( http://professorkim.blogspot.com )|

I have an axe to grind with travelers that won't observe the local laws, even if the atmosphere is laissez faire. It might be mellow with fellow travelers, with the business owners that support tourism, etc... but it's not going to be that way with the police and it gives a clear advantage to the predatory. I'm not arguing on the side of paranoia, that defeats the purpose of traveling. Yes, you SHOULD relax and kick up your feet, but not at the expense of throwing all your common sense out the window.

What Cooper said. I happen to think you take your life in your own hands when you impair your judgment and cloud your instincts by engaging with drugs while traveling. Sure, dude, it's a trip, but oh my god, it's such a trip ANYWAY that I can't imagine it being worth the risk.

I realize that my comments are sort of peripheral to the story line, which is just too awful for my brain to grasp. And reminds me of Natalie Holloway, who disappeared in Aruba in 05.

Nerd's Eye View ( http://www.nerdseyeview.com )

To me this is more about personal responsibility than dangers when traveling.
Common sense goes a long way.

cooper