THE GOAN NETWORK
PANAJI
The High Court of Bombay at Goa on Wednesday appointed Advocate Neehal Vernekar as amicus curiae to assist it in the suo motu writ petition regarding the alleged assault on advocate Ankur Kumar at Morjim last month. The Court has also impleaded the State government and senior administrative and police officials as respondents.
The Division Bench of Justice Valmiki Menezes and Justice Hiten Venegavkar directed that the State, the Collectors of North and South Goa, the Director General of Police, the Superintendents of Police and other authorities be impleaded in the matter. The case has been posted for further hearing on August 24 to enable the government counsel to obtain instructions.
During the hearing, the Bench indicated that the proceedings raised issues extending beyond the individual incident. “This is a larger issue... There are some High Court judgments... we made certain reference to certain judgments on attacks on advocates,” the Bench observed.
The court, however, did not interfere with the ongoing police investigation. At an earlier hearing, the High Court had expressed strong dissatisfaction with the manner in which the investigation was being conducted. It observed that case diary placed before it did not, prima facie, contain contemporaneous entries clearly recording the time, place and circumstances of crucial investigative steps.
The Bench then ordered an independent departmental inquiry into alleged lapses, including the maintenance of case diary, delays in collecting evidence, the handling of an urgent request for police protection and the investigative steps taken after the court directed that the probe be transferred.
