Its true that some parts of India are now becoming unsafe. I guess there should be guidelines set for all foreign tourists not to "befriend" or trust each and every person they meet locally.

I believe its also a mistake by the girl's mom to leave a minor alone with a stranger and go off to some other city for a few days.

The police are definitely corrupt and I suspect a high profile person involved in this case, who is trying to use his influence in hushing it up. Such kind of corruption should be abolished.

Ashwin, Bristol, England

india is dangerous and the police are corrupt. but travellers should be careful wherever they are. indeed, you need not travel. the uk is rather too dangerous a place to leave common sense at the door.

as the parent of three young girls myself, I'm thinking the chances of me leaving one of them alone with julio, 25, are zero. indeed, the chance of one of them even forming a close friendship with julio, 25, when only 15 herself are pretty damned close to zero. maybe if I had 9 kids, I would care less, but I doubt it.

I would like a friend called dakini running bear, though.

jem, london, uk

If I was a mother and had left my 15 yr old daughter alone in Goa and she died I would feel responsibile. I don't think I could live with myself knowing it was my fault that my daughter was dead.

Andrew Nyazai, Godalming, UK

I have full sympathy for the mother, she is entitled to proper forensic conclusion but do not accuse the police without solid proof, best co-operate. However that hippy place is out of control by drug addicts. To allow, to live 15 year old with a 25 year with man is solely illegal and irresponsible and I hope she will be more considerate with her other 7 children. Honestly we could do well with reduce number of yourists and specially addicts. Don't use the un-intelligent excuse of foreign exchange (NRI send 85%) as Goa is a cheap resort even for many Indian cities population.

Park, London, UK

I am sorry to say that Goa is the 'new thialand' a home to peadophiles and drug dealers , the police make a lucrative income in protecting the growing criminal fraternity from easteren europe . Most nirmal goan families are long gone due to the murder rate and corrupt police , most travellers end up as victims of theft , violence , or sexual harrassment , the police are a big part of the crimes which occur here , I have witnessed them beat the beach children with lathi's . you are not safe in any beach shack , cannot trust a smile or new friend , this is a huge price for Scarlett's family to pay for being naive and trusting human nature foreigners are the target in goa however the locals are bumped off on a regular basis if they cross a goonda or the police . So sad , so wrong , why aren't the British government making a fuss and informing us about the 60 murder cases every year ? why are we accepting all of these 'accidents' as accidents ???? what are ABTA doing ????

steve, london, uk

I am apalled at the level of xenophobia in these comments. I have stayed in India for 30 years, and have found it to be a perfectly safe country, even gone out on nights and returned late, without any problem. Statistically, considering the population in India, crime rates are still much lower compared to the west. Unfortunately if you are in the wrong place at the wrong time, the so called 'safest place' can be unsafe. Corrupt policing may be a problem, but such people can be brought to the book under the provisions of the law. Moreover, Indian society has hardly depended on policing to maintain law and order. Indians are by and large law abiding, God fearing people, and a few rotten apples do exist everywhere. These are the cases that the media would blow out of proportion, to tarnish the image of an otherwise marvellous country to visit. As far as xenophobia is concerned I am sure that an Indian woman dressed in a sari in a remote town in Britain would feel equally out of place.

AS, Redhill,

Awful and I agree that leaving the child virtually alone was wrong. However, this type of tragedy is not exclusive to "third world countries". Plenty similar happen over here!

LBrown, London, UK

Unfortunately rapes happen in every country.Do countries issues a travel advisory warning people not to travel to england or the US because someone was raped over there?Then why is it different for India.Tourists have to realize that sexually frustrated men exist everywhere and India is no exception.It is much safer to travel with someone wherever one goes.And please dont leave a family member alone with a starnger and go off sight seeing.Its a horrific crime if this girl was killed and such guys should be caught and thrashed in public.but it's equally scary that her mother left her all alone.

Ritesh, Singapore,

Been to almost all the places in India...Stayed in Goa for 2 years. I love that place. White people draw extra attention anywhere in the developing countries. A 15 year old can never be safe with a stranger...and when the place is a open heaven for drugs and when you do it your self how will you defend yourself.

It's a pity that a 15 year old's life has been extinguished
but these kind of purverts you find everywhere. Have seen rich old people visiting india for paedophile sex . What do you have to say about that.

sam, San Antonio, TX

Howard,

It's not that "they simply don't like you because of your skin color". In Goa's case it has to do with the working classes starting to watch Hollywood movies especially porn and developing a notion that white women are more attractive and "easy". If you grew up on a diet of "girl enter left boy enter right" porn movies you would think that too. Attarctve Indian women have been enduring this for years. But if you started knocking off destinations based on recent crime statistics, you probably wouldn't vacation further than your own living room.

Sid, Boston, USA

Howard - what a load of rubbish. Millions of people go to India without getting raped, hung or murdered. Should young French women stop coming to England because of the Levi Bellfield rape case? I don't think foreigners are targeted either. And incidentally the "culture" of sunbathing, drug taking, and copious alcohol consumption that a lot of foreign tourists have turned Goa into is one that is imported to India.

raymond, Liverpool, UK

If you value your lives, just don't go there. I'd rather refrain from seeing the sights and sounds, experience their "culture" etc. than risk being murdered, raped, hung etc. in a foreign country where they simply don't like you because of your skin colour.

Howard, Manchester,

Terrible things are happening in Goa, and police or goverment doesn't care. I was attacking in Benaulim at 20.00h on the road one month ago, when a goan guy try to raped me. I was very very lucky and I punch him and start screaming and the guy leave me alone. But every day a woman is molested for indians guys and nobody care. Few months ago 2 indian guys tried to rape a western woman, my husband and another friend stop the guys, but this 2 guys slap to my husband and they said: She is our, and this is our country. Saddnes because Im not coming back to Goa. Im so sorry for this family.

Monic, Paris, France

my daughter and i stayed in Palolem, Goa last year. She was 14 at the time and one of the members of staff at the huts we stayed at started to virtually stalk my daughter, wanting to know where she was and where she was going. She had an Indian boyfriend and he tried to stop him from seeing her in some very threatening and underhand ways and when i challenged him he was very aggressive. At the end of the holiday he followed us round the resort on his motorbike. When we got home he sent an extremely sexually explicit and threatening e.mail to her. we reported him to the owners of the huts and they promised he would be barred from working in goa again, but i am not sure how they will achieve this as it is not a small place. Unfortunately there will always be men who will prey on young, pretty girls wearing beach wear, and i guess you just have to be careful who you choose to hang around with. If we saw this man again we would defininetly report it to the police.

debbie , worcester,

india.
wear adeqaute clothes so that you dont invite a second glance from an indian, travel only in groups and dont venture out alone anywhere except city centres in poona / bombay / chennai, AND NOT DELHI AND CALCUTTA.
this is from an indian who has stayed for 25 years everywhere....and yes, bombay and poona and chennai ( madras ) are the safest of cities...as long as you dont invite trouble

shripad sateh, normanton,

india is dangerous and the police are corrupt. but travellers should be careful wherever they are. indeed, you need not even travel. the uk is also rather too dangerous a place to leave common sense at the door.

as the parent of three young girls myself, I'm thinking the chances of me leaving one of them alone with julio, 25, are zero. indeed, the chance of one of them even forming a close friendship with julio, 25, when only 15 herself are pretty damned close to zero. maybe if I had 9 kids, I would care less, but I doubt it.

I would like a friend called dakini running bear, though.

jem, london, uk

It is very sad and tragic case but foreigners must be very alert and these cases happen when tourists lower their guard and stay in shady places and hire unregistered tourists guides.while it is duty of the police to ensure safety of tourists but they cannot abidicate their resposibility. It is not common for ladies to go out in night or at lonely places unescorted.

M.M.GURBAXANI., Bangalore., India.

I was staggered that a "mother" would leave her child in Goa with a man she had only just met and who is 10 years older than her daughter. She should be charged with neglect. This is gross irresponsiblity.

Countygirl, Gt Dunmow, Essex

I went to india with my mum and felt intimidated by the men there who go mad after European looking women. We were staying in a nice hotel and the staff were nice but every time we venture out they gave us a hard time. I'm done with India and I wouldn't recommend it to anyone, it's a very sexist country.

Luella, Calais, France

Pikku,

I do not think that anybody is suggesting that the perpetrator of this crime is without guilt. However for a mother to leave her 15 year old daughter in the company of a 25 year old man is not the action of a responsible parent.

Had she not done so, her daughter would almost certainly be alive today.

Jim, Accra,

Pikku Myy, Brussels

Of course it is the man's fault if it is indeed rape. I think the point that has shocked most people is that anyone would leave their 15 year-old daughter alone in a foreign contry with someone they had just met on holiday, wether that child ended up being raped or not. To most of us leaving a child in a foreign country with a perfect stranger while we go galavanting off is inconceivable.

Sally, Newcastle upon Tyne, England

For God's sake! A few attacks and deaths amongst the millions who visit India every year, the majority of which could have been avoided if:
1. normal safety precautions would have been taken (e.g. not leaving your 15 year old daughter on her own while you bugger off somewhere with your boyfriend)
2. You don't get mixed up in drugs.

India continues to be one of the safest places for Western tourists to visit. Do you think there are headlines flooding the French press after the recent rape and murder of a French expat in London? Is London somehow no longer safe for tourists?

Get a grip people.

ASI, Brighton, UK

To all the people who say it was the mother's fault - I find it interesting that rape is virtually the only crime where instead of blaming the perpetrator, people blame the victim or their family. If someone were mugged and stabbed, would you say "What an idiot for going out with money that someone would want to steal"?? I doubt it. But when it's rape, it's the woman's fault for supposedly "asking for it" or the family's fault for "not looking after her properly". Wrong and wrong - it's the MAN'S fault. It's about time we punish these people instead of deflecting the blame somewhere else.

Pikku Myy, Brussels,

In the Uk we have had 3 high profile rape cases recently so this is problem is not just an Indian one. Corrupt policing however is an Indian problem. However taking sensible precautions widely mentioned in any guidebook about female travellers would have prevented this incident. Travelleling in pairs is highly recomended, and better if with a male. I don't think crime against tourists is endemic as it is implied on the article yet considering 2 million went to the state of Goa alone wand still only a handful of cases

Raymond, Liverpool, UK

How on earth do you leave your 15 year old daughter with a 25 year old man?

Chantel, Wales,

This is a terrible tragedy, but is typically being blown out of all proportion by sections of the media. This article says the crime added "...about the safety of women tourists in India", and then goes on to give four examples of people who died in Goa, two of whom are male, one of whom was allegedly killed by her western boyfriend, and the last of whom does not seem to have been a victim of sexual assault. Our media is becoming almost as bad as the media in the USA who would latch onto the rare rape/murder cases of pretty young women and would go on and on about them in a creepy voyeuristic way.

Ben, Brindisi, Italy

So she was a female minor, and her mother allowed her to stay with a 25 year-old male tour guide while she herself galivanted off to a different STATE! I wonder who the mother thinks is to blame for this tragedy?

sapphie, Windsor, UK

It is a common belief that the police authorities are corrupt to the core.This filters down to the lower police ranks ,who try to extort money from foreigners.Goa need to get its act together or else they will lose the foreign exchane they get from tourism.As for the politicians,well what can one say .The fish smells from the head?

Fred Farakhan, London, United Kingdom

What a terrible Story. What right minded person would leave their 15 year old daughter with an older man. I understand how this can happen in our country as we spend a far greater proportion of our wealth enabling this type of behaviour through greater Policing tactics, however in India. Cmon wake up.

Mark, Newcastle, uk

only 2 weeks ago another teen from Australia was stalked and gunned down in India. My husband was a concealed homicide as well in 2005 in India. I think the games need to be taken away from India in 2010. They don't deserve to host it. They do not respect tourists. They do not like foreigners.

Ant, Delhi, India

The mother left her 15 year old daughter alone, in a major party place and renowned drug taking rave beach in a foreign country, with a much older boyfriend, and took off to another state??! She shouldnt be blaming the police, she should be looking at herself and her lack of parental responsibilities. Nice one, Mrs.

Vic, London,

Indian Police need to be more careful and more transparent.They get influenced by local mafia and politicians.I feel if they have deliberately made a mistake then each of the police officers from top to bottom should be suspended and sacked with immediate effect.
May God bless the girls soul and help her family at such a difficult time
Rishika

Rishika Sinha, Stockton, UK

I'm sorry but I don't understand why a mother would leave her 15 year old child alone with strangers she met on holiday, whether she "insisted" on staying or not.

tolerant christian, london,

Also an Israeli tourist, a bright young scientiest, was murdered last month in Rajastan... His camera was then stolen... India is becoming more and more dangerous...

nir, Jerusalem, Israel