MAPUSA
Activist and advocate Aires Rodrigues on Sunday said he would move the High Court seeking appropriate orders to expedite the trial in the infamous 2008 Panaji Police Station attack case and to dispose of the matter in a time bound manner.
Besides Panaji MLA Anatasio (Babush) Monserrate and his wife Revenue Minister Jennifer Monserrate, who are contesting as BJP candidates, former CCP mayor Tony Rodrigues who is the Congress candidate in Taleigao and 32 others have been named as accused in the case, which has been pending for more than a decade.
Rodrigues has expressed concern that the politically influential accused had been able to successfully derail the justice delivery system by making a sheer mockery of the rule of law.
Pointing out that this case was earlier pending in the High Court for seven long years, Rodrigues has lamented that despite Justice Manish Pitale of the Bombay High Court at Goa having directed that the trial be expedited, it was being conveniently dragged on contrary to the mandate of the Supreme Court that criminal cases against politicians must be speedily expedited.
The chargesheet in the case was filed by the CBI in 2014.
Justice Manish Pitale of the Bombay High Court at Goa on December 22, last year had dismissed the applications seeking quashing of the proceedings and directed that the trial should commence and be expedited as there was prima facie evidence against the accused.
In February 2008, Babush Monserrate, then MLA of Taleigao had led a morcha before the Panaji police station demanding release of his supporter, who had allegedly been roughed up by the cops inside the lockup, had turned violent.
