PANJIM: Friends of social activist late Bismarque Dias termed the order of the HC directing the police to register an FIR in the death case as a slap on the faces of Police Officers who cooked up the theory of unnatural death.
“This order is the victory of Bismarque’s supporters, disciples and followers and lovers. It is also a tight slap on the faces of the Police Department in particular and the government in general who wanted to bury the case as an accidental death due to drowning,” Sudeep Dalvi, one of the petitioners in the HC, said.
Kennedy Alfonco, a joint petitioner, said that the High Court direction is a long-pending victory of the people and well wishers of Bismarque.
“Our fight was not a fight in just the courts, we had to fight on our own to achieve it. Our back-stabbing colleagues and friends, rival groups, and many unseen forces, and individuals with vested interests, tried to undermine our efforts. It is a victory over all I can say,” Alfonco said.
Dalvi, who was a close associate of Bismarque, speaking to Herald said that any attempt by the government to bury Bismarque’s body without the family’s consent will result in the situation reaching a point of no return.
“Any such move will have disastrous consequences for which the government will be solely responsible,” he said, reacting to order passed by GHRC, directing the North Goa Collector to arrange for the final rites of the body lying in morgue for the past one and half year.
“Any attempt by government to hijack his funeral will be its second blunder, the first one being violence against Bismarque’s supporters during the November 2015 Panjim ferry incident,” Dalvi said, expressing the possibility of law and order getting out of hand if the situation further deteriorated.
Bismarque’s family is yet to decide upon the final rites of the body. Kennedy Dias, his brother said, “We were demanding justice for my brother where it is a known fact that it is murder. Now we have to decide our further course of action which we will decide soon.”
He added, “I welcome the court order. My brother has not done anything wrong. He served the village and state to protect our environment.”
