Church condemns raid

TEAM HERALD

teamherald@herald-goa.com

PANJIM: The Archdiocese of Goa and Daman has in a statement “deplored” the raid by the Income Tax Department on Parish Priest of Velim Fr Romano Gonsalves.

“The Archdiocese of Goa and Daman deplores the reported unwarranted raid on Fr Romano Gonsalves, Parish Priest of St. Francis Xavier Church, Velim, by sleuths from the Income Tax Department in collaboration with the Flying Squad kept in place by the Goa Election Commission”, the statement reads.

The statement released by the Diocesan Centre for Social Communications media calls for such incidents not to be repeated in future.

“Every citizen has the right to privacy and honour, more so the public institutions for their role in the community they serve. The clarification from the Goa Election Commission regarding the amount seized, as falsely reported by a section of the press, reflects badly on the authorities concerned. The least that is demanded is a proper enquiry about the call and its source and an effective remedial action so that such undesirable incidents do not repeat”, it says.

Fr Romano Gonsalves was raided by the I-T Department following a tip-off from an unknown source. This caused great anguish among the parishioners who at a meeting condemned the act.