Goa NGO says 100 escort websites operating in state

A fortnight after two women working as escorts offering sexual services were gang-raped by five men posing as clients, an NGO has compiled a list of 100 websites offering escort services in Goa.

Police are, however, helpless at cracking down on the escort websites, as many were hosted on servers outside the country and outside the ambit of Indian law, a top official said.

The list of 100 websites, advertising availability of escorts, offer women anywhere in the state known for its beach and night-life tourism, claims NGO Generation Next founder Durgadas Kamat.

"We have come across more than 100 websites which openly market and advertise prostitution in Goa, which tarnishes our state's image," Kamat said, while handing over the dossier to Director General of Police T.N. Mohan.

On June 1, two women sourced from as escort service provider were booked and later gang-raped by five men at a resort in Calangute beach village, 20 km from the state capital.

Kamat claimed that the providers of such escort service could be tracked down using the phone numbers provided on their websites.

He alleged that police were not doing enough to curb the open soliciting online.

"We would like to suggest that the mobile number and location of the pimps can be easily found out through mobile service providers. We have serious suspicion that there is a pimp-police nexus operating in Goa which allows such businesses to flourish," Kamat said.

Police, however, claim it is extremely difficult to crack down on the sophisticated prostitution network, as enough precautions were being taken by operators of such sleazy websites.

"All their servers are located outside the country. When we try to ask the hosts (companies providing servers for such websites) for details about the website owners, sometimes they cooperate, sometimes they do not," Superintendent of Police (Crime Branch) Karthik Kashyap said.

"These operators are using the loopholes of this situation to start such businesses," Kashyap added.

Goa is one of the top beach tourism destinations in the country and attracts over three million tourists every year.