‘The big fish will never reach court of justice’: Social media rife with rage, resignation after Goa nightclub fire

PANAJI: A wave of anger swept across social media platforms on Sunday and Monday as people demanded accountability from both govt and the Saurabh Luthra-led management of Birch by Romeo Lane after a devastating fire claimed 25 lives.“When a net is cast in the sea, big fish like ‘viswon’, ‘modso’, ‘chonak’, ‘pitoshi’ mostly escape; a few that are caught rarely reach Goans who get only ‘korbot’. The big ones caught end up in the kitchens of starred hotels. Likewise with other aspects of our life. The net is cast wide to catch the criminals responsible for the Arpora tragedy. The big fish will never reach the court of justice; if they do, there will be enough loopholes in the charge sheet for them to get away. The small men like the sarpanch, panchs, secretary/clerks will have to bear the brunt,” said lawyer Radharao Gracias.Shivani Soni, a PR and marketing executive, woke up to the tragic news and immediately messaged her outrage to the brand’s page seeking answers. “How difficult is it to have safety measures and disaster management in place? Why wasn’t there regular checking? Why do we have to wait for a tragedy to lose innocent lives? The question that looms in my mind is — Am I really safe?” she said.“Every Goan worth his salt is fulminating on social media, using cuss words against (Pramod) Sawant and Co Pvt Ltd and demanding that heads roll. This rage will be expected to last until the next outrage,” activist and consulting physician, Dr Oscar Rebello wrote.Another netizen, Rohan Govenkar, demanded that the culprits’ properties be seized. “Their properties need to be attached and sold to some other Khosla/Chadda/Luthra (plenty of vultures out there) and the proceeds should be divided among the families of the fire victims (could be made possible if our IAS/IPS fellows get their cut).”