TEAM HERALD
PANJIM: For Shripad Pednekar, it wasn’t his first time protesting a cause that he felt strongly against, but it was a first time in a police station. Protesting the comments of Tourism Minister Dilip Parulekar on the gang-rape of two Delhi girls, Pednekar along with party members went to the minister’s house with placards in hand chanting slogans.
“We had not trespassed on anyone’s property and were on the pathway when we reached the front of his residence at around 4 pm on Sunday. All we wanted to do was ask the minister why he made such a comment,” said Pednekar.
For the youngster, who’s a volunteer with the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) since the Saligao branch began in January last year, it came as no shock with what happened next. Pednekar along with three others, Mario Cordeiro, Moses Coutinho and Dinesh Vaghela received notices from the Saligao Police station to be questioned.
The notice issued called for the four in response to a complaint filed against them for criminal trespass, wrongful restraint, and unlawful assembly, all of which the group denies.
“We were on the pathway and had in no way trespassed into the property. What was even worse was the way we were questioned at the police station. When they began questioning us, they didn’t ask us anything about the protest but questioned our time spent with the party,” said Cordeiro. He said they were forbidden from asking any questions and were not even given a copy of the FIR filed against them.
Accompanying volunteers of the party supported their colleagues by staging a silent protest outside the police station where the questioning went on for four hours, with black bands across their mouths demonstrating the muffling of opposition voices.
While Pednekar said he had expected an arrest, he said he would not be deterred from his main aim of fighting corruption. “It is strange that the cops could find my address and locate me in one night but couldn’t find where Mickky Pacheco was for months. So to some extent the system does work. That is what we have been fighting for and if only the police would do what they did to us but without political pressure, the system would definitely win,” he said.
Speaking about the next step the party would take, Cordeiro said they would take their protest to the chief minister’s residence insisting for the minister to be removed from his position and highlight the issue of crimes against women in the State.
