PANAJI
The Bombay High Court at Goa has declined to grant permission to Pastor Domnic D’Souza and his wife Joao, both of whom challenged the six-month-long externment order issued by the North District Collector.
Charged with practising religious conversion and black magic, the couple was directed to leave the district for six months. They appealed against the order in the High Court that rejected their plea for relief.
Justice Avinash Gharote asked the petitioners to pursue the appropriate legal channels for challenging the order after which the duo opted to withdraw their plea to approach the appellate forum. Subsequently, the petition was dismissed as withdrawn by them.
It is learnt that the couple intends to challenge the order before the ChiefSecretary, being the first appellate forum. The District Collector, last week, ordered externing the Pastor and his wife Joan of Five Pillars Church in Siolim after the district police submitted a fresh proposal citing their involvement in a series of alleged religious conversions and black magic.
Former Superintendent of Police (North Goa) Nidhin Valsan had submitted a report to the Collector on January 4 seeking externment of the duo for the "maximum period." The recent FIR was registered by Mapusa police on January 1, accusing the couple of serious offences.
