Velim church attack case
MARGAO
Will the government, during the ongoing Assembly session, announce the fate of Velim church attack case as per the assurance given by the then chief minister and now Defence Minister, Manohar Parrikar, to amicably resolve the matter which remains unfulfilled till date?
Hearing of the infamous Velim church attack case is now scheduled on January 15, but there’s no government directive to the Assistant Public Prosecutor till date to move the case to the Judicial Magistrate First Class, Margao, to get it closed and withdrawn.
When The Goan called on Assistant Public Prosecutor Shilpa Nagvekar to find out whether her office has received any communique from the Directorate of Prosecution for withdrawal of the Velim church case, she replied in the negative. The case will now come up for hearing on January 15 as scheduled for appearance of one of the accused person, who could not make his presence felt in the court, due to error in his name and address. The APP informed that the court has already issued summons to the accused to appear before the court on January 15.
Ever since the Cuncolim police had filed the chargesheet against 22 accused, including the two priests Fr Romano Gonsalves and Fr Lucio Dias, around six months ago, the question of withdrawal of the case had come up before the court, with the Judge telling the defence lawyers that the question of withdrawal of case falls within the government domain and that the court has nothing to do with the same.
Incidentally, local Velim MLA Benjamin D’Silva had in the past raised the issue of case withdrawal in the Assembly during the tenure of then Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, only to receive a reply that the government will consider the case sympathetically.
Former Ambelim sarpanch Cruz Silva demanded that the government come clear in the House in the ongoing Assembly session and tell the villagers whether it plans to withdraw the case or not. “Local MLA Benjamin D’Silva had been telling the people of Velim since the last three years that the government would withdraw the case, but in vain," said Cruz.
“Let the government make a statement in the ongoing Assembly session whether the promise made by the Parrikar government would be honoured by the Parsekar government. Because, when the chief minister had come to Ambelim, a month ago, he had only said that the government is aware of the case. On the other hand, innocent people have been implicated by the police for no fault of theirs. The police also did not spare the two priests," Cruz said, while demanding that the government come clear on the infamous case.
