Are foreign tourists victim of an image trap?

SMEAR CAMPAIGN: Scarlette’s mother has been accused of abandoning her while she travelled to Karnataka.

            

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The media storm continues over Scarlette Keeling’s death as new evidence reveals that she was drunk and high on drugs.

Fifteen-year-old Scarlette was found dead under suspicious circumstances on Anjuna beach in Goa on February 18. Scarlette’s mother Fiona had left her daughter alone in Goa.

Politicians say that foreign tourists who come to Goa should behave more responsibly hence CNN-IBN show Face The Nation brought up a question: Are foreign tourists in India victims of an image trap?

On the panel to try and answer the question were Rajya Sabha MP Shantaram Laxman Naik; Convener, Goa Bachao Abhiyan, Dr Oscar Rebello; and German businesswoman and a tourist in India, Cordula Bruenske.

Who is to Blame?

Foreign tourists in India, particularly in Goa, have to be responsible for their own safety, say the politicians. Many have also tried to shift the blame to Scarlette’s mother saying she should have been more careful than leaving a teenaged girl all by herself in a foreign country. Scarlette was also reported to have been leading a ‘fast’ lifestyle. But with reports of police cover-up in the Scarlette murder case, it is obvious that nothing can justify a crime like murder.

Shantaram Laxman Naik denies that there were attempts at a cover up. “In fact the Chief Minister ordered a second post mortem in the case. Therefore, there was no cover up on the part of the government,” the Rajya Sabha MP reasons.

The doctor had clearly said that it was a homicide, but the authorities did not take that seriously and only said that Scarlette was drunk.

“Though I live in Delhi, I have been told that post-mortem reports are practically the same,” said Naik.

A fast lifestyle?

As being someone who cares about preserving Goa, Dr Oscar Rebello feels that there is a king of tourist sub-culture in Goa of fast and loose living, which may get fuelled by tourists like Scarlette. He admitted it is a problem.

Accorfing to Dr Rebello, the middle-class went through the life and death anxiety. Thousands of oppressed, marginalised and underprivileged women from India were brutally murdered and raped, but nothing could really justify the alleged rape and murder of Scarlette.

“Rape and murder are an unfortunate part of society, but the point is how have the authorities responded?” Dr Rebello questioned.

“If there is sincerity, then it has to be responded to, because if that sincerity is noticed then we could have authorities respond firmly to a crime,” said Dr Rebello.

Those hippie women

However, a foreign woman is perceived as someone who is a hippie and leading a certain kind of lifestyle, so that is the reason the police do not take their matters so seriously.

Cordula Bruenske, however, did not feel she was being treated differently.

“They (people) look at me and it is normal. Every body would look at a foreigner in other countries, as well. But that doesn’t mean that they can do whatever they want with me,” Bruenske said firmly.

She added that she was careful not only in India but just about everywhere, for being a foreigner.