Cops shying from registering case?
TEAM HERALD
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MARGAO: In an interesting development, the Goa police on Sunday said they have not registered any case against anyone in connection with Saturday’s ugly incident wherein mining-dependent people stormed the city and heckled activists, for want of a complaint.
While Margao police said no case stands registered against anyone in the absence of a complaint, the district Police Chief, Shekar Prabhudessai has virtually ruled out the question of the police registering a case against any person suo moto. “When there is no complaint from anyone against any person, why should the police act suo moto,” Prabhudessai asked.
Replying to another question, SP Prabhudessai denied there was a delay in sending additional reinforcements to the spot to ensure safety and security of the activists holed up at the CD Blue Chip hall on political considerations. “The police had no knowledge whether any relative of a MLA from a mining belt was part of the group that descended outside the hall,” he said, while replying to a question whether the police delayed in dispatching additional reinforcements on account of political considerations.
“The moment we came to know that people from the mining belt were assembling outside the CD Blue Chip hall, we immediately dispatched the police to the spot for law and order duties,” he added.
The motley force of Margao police had to literally struggle to save the day for the men-in-uniform on Saturday when additional reinforcements were not forthcoming when the situation threatened to go out of control.
On Saturday, activists and representatives of NGOs came at the receiving end of the mining-dependent people when they made their presence felt in the hall, the venue of the seminar on Shah Commission report organized by Goa RTI Forum, prompting the organizers to call off the programme. Two activists John Philip Pereira and Jose Marie Miranda were later jeered and heckled by the protestors while they were leaving the hall, while other activists had to remain inside the building for quite some time before the police dispersed the crowd.
