----------------------------------------------------------------------- Documented by Goa Desc Documentation Service & circulated by Goa Civic & Consumer Action Network (GOA CAN)<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Ph:2252660 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- ---------------------- Probe drug angle ---------------------- An aspect of the gang rape case which is most baffling is the narcotics dimension. Even the top echelons of the police and the medical establishment who have at least privately been very vehement in disputing the accusation of gang rape acknowledge that the victim was drugged.
The police have even gone to the extent of labelling the drug as the magic mushroom presumably on the basis of the complaint of the mother that the accused had told the victim that the cigarettes given to her had mushrooms. Magic mushrooms is known to be a mild and conscious-altering substance not unlike LSD. Like all mind-bending and altering drugs even minor doses can cause violent mood swings.
The initial impact of most psychotropic drugs is a tremendous sense of euphoria and well-being unrelated to the actual ground reality. Elsewhere in the issue we have reproduced several case studies of what happens when someone is drugged with magic mushrooms for the benefit of the police and the high-powered committee who may be too lazy to research the effect of magic mushrooms.
In the jargon used by drug users substances like magic mushrooms are referred to as uppers. We speak with some authority on the subject because over 30 years ago we have personally experienced in controlled conditions what is called an acid trip, which is very similar to symptoms that those drugged down magic mushrooms display. In fact in the 70s inspired or provoked by Aldous Huxley's Doors of Perception everyone who had any intellectual or artistic pretensions experimented with psychotropic drugs.
From our extensive reading on psychotropic drugs and memories of our own acid trip we find no inconsistency between the victim's initial euphoria and sense of elation about what in normal condition would be an extremely traumatic experience. And it is characteristic with psychotropic drug experience that when the effect of the drug begins to wear off and their memory returns anxiety and panic sets in.
All drugs have a down side effect in the cycle and it is clear that the belated knowledge of the implications of what may have transpired sent the victim into a state of shock. A shock intensified by fear, anxiety, hurt outrage and even paranoia.
We published the full unexpurgated version of the mother's complaint because it had a ring of truth. If the mother's intention was to obscure the facts, she would not have acknowledged in her complaint that her daughter had come in an elated mood with five roses. It is also consistent with drug withdrawal symptoms that anxiety and panic setting when the victim began to understand what may have happened.
But quite apart from amateur psychoanalysis drugs which are freely available within the Goa Art College campus, there have been allegations that the brother of the canteen contractor runs a shack in Vagator and is connected with the drug trade. Magic mushrooms, if that was the drug that was used, is fairly scarce and is not available in the friendly neighbourhood gaddo or across the counter in a pharmacy.
It is also clear from the police statements that the accused knew what drugs they were administering and what impact it would have on the victim. It is not at all a coincidence that under the influence of drugs like magic mushrooms an altered state of consciousness was created and the victim could not react emotionally or rationally to the unwelcome attention of her tormentors.
It is also clear that the accused had done whatever they have been accused of doing with cold blooded premeditation. By no stretch of imagination can it be dismissed as a rush to the head or blithe spirits who got carried away. Obviously the assault was planned meticulously to the last detail. A curious aspect of the whole episode is that there have been no protests of innocence from the parents of the accused.
The police who should have by now coerced or frightened or tortured statements out of the accused have also been very silent on what the accused have to say. This stoic silence on the part of the police about the views of the accused in contrast to their willingness to offer intimate details of the forensic report of the victim is itself very suspicious.
All of which leads to only one conclusion.That the drug mafia is probably
involved. That perhaps the parents of the accused are aware of the fact
that their children had been experimenting with drugs. That the accused
students are unwilling to talk not out of fear of the police but out of the fear
of possible retribution or retaliation by the drug barons who can be
very ruthless.
It is even possible that the police know the origin and the source of the drugs but will not talk or act because of the nexus between the police and the drug barons. It is well known that all the drug barons have strong linkages with the police and they enjoy the patronage of politicians of all persuasions. The key to the mystery of what happened lies in cracking the drugging aspect. The larger issue is the free availability of even psychotropic drugs in the campuses.
We personally believe that the Excise Commissioner rather than the Developmental Commissioner Vijay Madan should be asked to probe how drugs were procured by the accused. Not because the rank and file of the excise officials are neccessarily less corrupt or less politically connected. But because given the traditional rivalry between the excise department and the police, the excise department would probably welcome an opportunity to expose the police. ------------------------------------- HERALD 28/05/03 page 6 --------------------------------------
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