Custodial death and alcohol abuse in Goa

An Opinion
The alleged custodial death of Cipriano Fernandes brings to light how the Goa Police is ill-equipped in dealing with law and order problems arising from the abuse of alcohol. While the government has been extremely gracious in making alcohol available at every nook and corner with practically no restrictions, it has not put in place the required laws and provided the essential machinery to deal with problems arising from abuse of alcohol. Even the negligible number of government managed detoxification centres are in a miserable condition. Cipriano is one of the most unfortunate cases that landed up losing his life in a police station from among hundreds of drunken men that abuse and threaten their wives and children in Goan homes under the influence of alcohol but go unreported because of social stigma.
Going from the account presented by Cipriano's friend, one does not get the impression that he had a history of hard core criminality. He was a sick man who was afflicted by alcohol abuse. The mere possession of a lethal weapon should not have made him an eligible candidate for the cops to unleash their sadistic tendencies. Alcoholics are known to use all tactics under the sun to blackmail their family members and friends into supporting their disease. It can range from a threat to kill to a threat to take one's own life. Most of them are cowards who use booze as a crutch to enable them cope with their fear or shyness to commit an act or to cope with emotions. It is their addiction that compels them to blackmail their near and dear ones into supporting their disease. Probably even the cops will agree with me that over half the cases of law and order in Goa stem from the abuse of alcohol. Having worked with victims of substance abuse, I have observed this very closely from a couple of notorious elements as per police records, but which was never so. Off booze these were very compassionate, creative and loving people, but could be devils once they have taken that drink.
having been involved in the treatment of victims of substance abuse, I can recall at least one cop who was then the PI of Panjim Police station, Mr. Umesh Gaonkar who used to intervene in such cases with a humane and clinical approach. It is amazing to see the results today, when some of these persons have remained sober or some others quit their anti-social activities and are now helping others. A young man who was noted for anti-social activities in the late eighties, shared with me on how he had changed his life with help from Mr. Gaonkar. Not every cop is gifted with this skill of being a social reformist. But it is only that an insensitive government has not bothered to exploit this treasure within its ranks. It is about deploying the right men for the right job and at the right time. A butcher cannot be entrusted with the delicate job of healing. Intervening in cases of alcohol abuse requires compassion and clinical skills as brute force does no good, except ends up in a tragedy like that of Cipriano. I do not blame the cops as they are not sensitised and trained to deal with a cunning and baffling disease like alcoholism. Even family members themselves get desperate at times and resort to horrendous acts to deal with the alcoholic. We have recent cases of how wives have killed their alcoholic husbands as they could not take the torture anymore.
So, as we vow to bring to book those cops who are allegedly responsible for causing the death of Cipriano and covering it up, let us not lose sight of the deeper problem which is the absence of a machinery to deal with the ill effects of government promoted alcohol trade. If not, this could lead to cops shying away from intervening in such cases in the future which will again be disastrous. It is the government that has actually failed in its duty to put in place a system for tackling the fall-outs from it's encouragment for alcohol consumption. The cops do have an extremely important role to play in facilitating the treatment process of a stubborn alcoholic and giving protection to family members of alcoholics as and when required; provided they are trained to do so. They cannot use the same methods used with hard-core criminals when dealing with cases of alcohol abuse. Similarly, neighbours and friends also have a role in assisting the victims of alcohol abuse to take the necessary treatment. At the same time, this uncontrolled licence to booze will also have to be seriously debated upon by Goan society to prevent the ill effects and long term consequences on the young generation from such activity.
Let not the death of Cipriano Fernandes be in vain. May it offer a new direction for reaching out to those afflicted by the disease of alcohol abuse and thereby prevent much agony and pain to those in Goan homes who have to cope with the abuse from an alcoholic almost every day. May it enlighten the government that merely promoting alcohol for revenue generation is not an end in itself. There needs to also be in place the required machinery to deal with the social consequences leading from the promotion of intoxicants. One can only hope that this issue will not be exploited for political purposes but will help focus on solutions for constructively tackling the larger problem of alcohol abuse.