the goan I network
MARGAO
With the Goa police refusing to register an FIR in the formalin in fish case, city-based lawyer Adv Rajiv Gomes on Monday knocked the doors of the Judiciary to direct the Fatorda police to register a First Information Report and commence investigation in the case.
In his petition before the Margao Court, Adv Gomes prayed that the FDA Director submit to the Court all the test reports bearing reports No. 298/IF/2018 to 314/IF/2018 all dated 12/7/2018 pertaining to the tests conducted by the FDA on the samples obtained from the 17 trucks on the 12/7/2018.
He further prayed to issue directions to the FDA to submit to the court all information, scientific, legal or otherwise, pertaining to the use of formalin as a food preservative/additive and details of all scientific, indicative (spot) and confirmatory tests for detecting formalin in fish, ice and water.
Adv Gomes pointed out that it is important to investigate the complaint of the applicant with utmost seriousness to unearth by whom, when and where the criminal conspiracy was hatched to preserve the fish in formalin; to identify the persons involved, to arrest and interrogate the wholesale agents of the 17 trucks, and to identify the places where the formalin was added to the fish or the ice in which the fish was preserved and find out the source of the chemicals/formalin used in the preservation.
“The matter affects the general health of the public, including children, as well as the livelihood of the Goan fishing community, and in order to restore confidence in the people that the fish sold in the future will be formalin free, swift and effective action against the fish mafia is of utmost importance,” he said, adding there’s a bright possibility that the formalin-laced fish will again be sold in the Goan fish market after the ban on imported fish is lifted.
Besides Fatorda police, Adv Gomes has cited the state of Goa, Superintendent of Police, South, Director, Food and Drugs Administration, Director Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, Central Institute of Fisheries Technology as the respondents in the case.
Before moving the court, Adv Gomes had filed a complaint before the Fatorda, Superintendent of Police, South and the Crime branch demanding registration of an FIR against the guilty wholesale fish agents, but in vain.
