PANAJI
Following a sustained protest by advocates across Panjim and Margao, Goa police bowed to pressure from the lawyers' body and suspended four policemen who allegedly assaulted Advocate Gajanan Sawant last Friday.
Head Constable Sandeep Parab and constables Mahadev Naik, Amrut Nagvekar (Robot - 8), and constable driver Marcus Gomes (Robot - 8) were suspended on Tuesday evening.
Unrelenting in their demand for suspension and arrest of the four policemen, the advocates earlier in the day met Chief Minister Pramod Sawant seeking action. Later speaking to the media, the delegation of lawyers said that CM had agreed to a magisterial inquiry.
Meanwhile, even as the legal fraternity was up in arms against the policemen charged with assaulting their colleague, families of the accused cops have demanded an impartial inquiry.
A delegation, who met Director General of Police Jaspal Singh and Inspector General of Police Omvir Singh at Police HeadQuarters on Tuesday, accused the lawyers of using ‘pressure tactics’ to take disciplinary and legal action against the policemen.
“The advocates are pressurizing the Crime Branch to arrest the policemen. We are condemning the incident. It’s a violation on the part of the advocates to slap the policemen, who were attending to a distress call. How can he (Gajanan Sawant) take law into his own hands and stop the policemen from doing their lawful duty?” said a constable’s father, who addressed the media at Azad Maidan.
Another family member accused the lawyers of using wrong methods to get FIR registered against four cops despite allegations not proven. “How can they demand arrest and suspension? Don’t they know that arrest is not mandatory? Let the investigation take place and the investigation team decide further course of action,” the woman, related to one of the accused policemen, said.
