MARGAO
The Chief Judicial Magistrate (CJM), Margao, Shubada Dalvi on Tuesday issued a bailable warrant against the Investigating Officer (IO) in the 2020 Chandor midnight protest case after he failed to appear in the court for a scheduled hearing.
When the matter came up for hearing, the CJM inquired with the Assistant Public Prosecutor (APP) Sanford Fernandes about the presence of the IO, Police Inspector Arun Desai of the Maina-Curtorim Police Station. Upon being informed by the APP that PI Desai is not present in the court room despite being informed of the hearing, the court ordered the issuance of a bailable warrant.
The CJM said the warrant should be executed through the South Goa Superintendent of Police, adding that copy of the bailable warrant should be sent to the DIG with the intimation that this is a Special High Court direction matter.
PI Desai had also failed to appear at the previous hearing, prompting the court to adjourn the matter to Tuesday. However, his continued absence led the CJM to issue the warrant.
The court is currently hearing a plea related to the 2020 Chandor agitation, during which protesters had staged a late-night demonstration. The presence of the IO was specifically sought in connection with an application filed by the Maina-Curtorim police seeking permission to conduct further investigation and submit a supplementary report.
The police had filed the application before the CJM in January last for further investigations in the case that had occurred five years ago. Though arguments have taken place on the application, no decision has been taken by the court till date. In fact, the court had sought the presence of the IO in the court apparently to seek clarity on the application for further investigations.
According to the application, during the protest, police inspectors and staff from several police stations were deputed for bandobast duty at the Chandor outpost to manage the law and order situation. However, it was inadvertently omitted during the initial investigation to collect the station diary extracts documenting the deployment of personnel from the various police stations. “These station diary extracts are essential to establish the presence of the complainant and witnesses at the time of the incident,” the application stated.
Additionally, the police informed the court that the statements of key government officials “ Salcete Joint Mamlatdars Raghuraj Faldessai, Dattaraj K Gauns Dessai (Joint Mamlatdar-III), and Gaurav S Gaonkar (Joint Mamlatdar-VI) “ also remained to be recorded.
“The eye-witness testimonies of the Mamlatdars are material and essential for this Court to effectively adjudicate and evaluate the truth in the case,” the police application emphasised.
