'Ban bikers, pillion riders from covering faces'

Panaji, May 14 (IANS) Bikers and pillion riders should be banned from covering their faces, demand Goa's Fisheries Minister Avertano Furtado and ruling party lawmaker Caitu Silva.

The demand comes a day after two masked riders - a man and a woman - armed with a chopper stormed into the Church of St. John the Baptist in Benaulim, a beach village, 40 km from Panaji, and robbed mobile phones, a laptop and Rs.10,000 in cash Tuesday morning.

"We will be speaking to the chief minister about imposing the ban on covering faces while riding a bike. For Muslims, it is a case of religious sentiment, so it is ok. But everyone else is also covering their faces. This has to stop," Furtado told IANS.

Benaulim MLA Silva said the sense of anonymity from covering faces emboldens criminals.

"Look at what has happened at our Church. This covering of faces has to stop somewhere," Silva said.

The biker duo are still untraced.