The brotherhood of thugs
Yhe brotherhood of thugs is hell bent on making a mockery of even the fast depleting reserve of decency of the police force. By all accounts the inquiry of the SDM Sabaji Shetye in the Cipriano custodial death case, based on forensic evidence has very clearly concluded that a direct assault on Cipriano was a result of his death. Following this, an FIR was lodged booking all officers on duty for murder and other charges.
The shoddy nature of the FIR, manipulation of timings showing his official arrest and release and the refusal to specify which officers were physically present at the police station at any or all points of time since Cipriano was brought to the police station till the time he was placed in the ambulance enroute to GMC, are ominous signals.
But the issue is far larger than this specific case. The manner in which this case has been handled is actually a very sad vision document of the governance of Goa. A case of murder against serving police officers is grave and heinous. And let this be very clear. The entire police machinery is shocked, not because they are ashamed of their guilt. They are shocked because they got caught.
It was not meant to be this way. SDM Sabaji Shetye will never admit this but ask him to look at himself in the mirror and ask his conscience if there was any pressure put on him to save or dilute charges against these officers. He knows the answer. And we do too. The amazing thing in this Cipriano case is that it has come so far not because of the police but inspite of it. There were some bright sparks though. DySP Bousuette D Silva who inquired into procedural lapses of the police and found prima facie evidence after which three officers were suspended.
After this, there was a flurry of activity to cover tracks. But it took one man, ironically Goa’s senior most Forensic expert Dr Silvano Sapeco to depose before the SDM as well as the Chief Judicial Magistrate and give details of his findings of the autopsy conducted on Cipriano. It was his clear declaration that Cipriano died after being struck by a blunt object that changed the course of the case.
The larger question therefore is whether the state will continue to have different yardsticks for investigation, trial and punishment for ordinary people and those in positions of any authority. Can you possibly imagine an ordinary man, accused of murder, moving around without any questioning or arrest.
In a cognizable offence as this, arrest is imperative, though not mandatory if the agency feels that the accused will cooperate with the investigation if one goes strictly by the law. But how many common people have you heard who get the privilege of freedom as a murder accused? The seriousness of this is still not being felt. Even within the police force or the government machinery, in a reversal of the caste system, there are the untouchables, a higher class who are not touched and the poor touchables who are always touched.
When the prosecution itself has no interest in prosecuting, it hands over its teeth to the defence. Is there any sign of the investigating agency moving in, calling the accused for questioning and interrogation and arresting them and seeking custody for questioning?
It’s the same old story. The rule of power and the subjugation of the meek. That is Goa’s vision statement
