Poor show at ZP polls in Goa: AAP drops Amit Palekar as state unit chief

Panaji: Socorro panchayat on Wednesday began the process of sealing the house of a man arrested earlier this week for raping a six-year-old child. The panchayat placed a notice on the door of the now vacant house, giving the accused’s family seven days to leave the premises.The middle-aged accused was engaged to drop off the six-year-old survivor to school. On Tuesday evening, when the news spread, the accused’s neighbours gathered outside his house in large numbers to protest. The neighbours demanded that the family leave the premises as they feared for the safety of their children upon his release from police custody.Following the protests, panchayat officials and police rushed to the site.The accused’s wife, daughter, and a relative were inside the house at the time and left the house the same evening under police watch for their safety as the mob surrounded their house.On Wednesday, as per the villagers’ demand, when the panchayat members went to serve the notice to the accused’s family to vacate the premises, the house was empty, so the officials placed the notice on the door.“The house was constructed under a govt scheme and therefore cannot be sold. But the person to whom the house was allotted had given it to the accused to stay. In such cases, a lease agreement is made to allow a non-allottee to stay in the house, though we are not sure what agreement was reached between the parties. The accused and his family were accordingly living in the premises for the last three years,” said a panchayat member.The panchayat stated in the notice that as a serious criminal complaint of child abuse was received against the accused, they are seeking that the accused vacate the house as it has “caused fear, disturbance, and insecurity among the general public”.“The neighbours want the family to leave the house. So we have to serve the notice to them as a precautionary measure. If any untoward situation happens due to a mob, who will be responsible? We have told his family to shift their things out, and they have agreed to do so within seven days,” said the panchayat member.