the goan I network
MARGAO
During arguments on the question whether the Velim Church case should be committed to the Sessions Court since the accused have been charged under Sections 307 and 333 of the IPC, which are triable exclusively by the court of Sessions, Adv Pritam Moraes, representing Fr Romano Gonsalves quoted a High Court citation stating that a Magistrate sought not to be mere a postman, but ascertain whether the prosecution has made out a case before the matter is committed to the Sessions court.
Adv Rajiv Gomes also argued on similar lines, submitting that the Magistrate should take note of the case papers before taking a decision to commit the case to the Sessions court or not for trial. The two defence lawyers advanced the arguments after the Assistant Public Prosecutor Shilpa Nagvenkar maintained that a JMFC is required to only commit the case to the Sessions as a matter of routine administrative process since the two sections 307
and 333 of the IPC are triable exclusively by the court of
Sessions.
Both Adv Rajiv and Adv Pritam argued that though the police have registered a case under section 333 of the IPC against the 22 accused persons, including Fr Romano Gonsalves and Fr Lucio Dias, for causing grievous injuries to the six police victims, the hurt certificate does not reflect that the victims suffered any grievous injuries. In fact, they pointed out that the hurt certificate stated while five of the victims had only one simple injury, the remaining victims had three injuries, all simple in nature.
JMFC, Margao Ram Prabhudesai after hearing arguments from the prosecution and defence has posted the order in the matter for October 17.
