Team Herald
MARGAO: Goans for Goa (GFG) has condemned the chief minister, who is also the home minister, “for giving the order to the police to brutally lift the people” who were protesting peacefully at the cross, near the ferry point Panjim.
“Through this action, the BJP government has proved that they are not concerned about the people of Goa, but want to give a good impression to the visitors who came to IFFI, that all is well in their Goa,” GFG President Kennedy Afonso said in a statement issued here.
He said that it is a shame that the BJP government is more interested in conducting festivals when the whole State is mourning for a son lost. People want justice and the government wants festivals.
He said GFG condemns the government for imposing Section 144 for a festival like IFFI, where families come in groups, and as such the action is arbitrary and discriminatory in nature.
GFG stated that the people have a right to express themselves, as the freedom of speech is guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution. “The district magistrate or collector cannot issue orders under Section 144 (of CrPC), as there is no emergency and no imminent danger and as such the magistrate’s order is without jurisdiction and a mere mechanical order,” Afonso said.
GFG also condemned the Goa police for roughing up the peaceful protesters. It singled out PSI Reshmi Baedakar for brutally handling women, some of whom were injured as a result of her brutality.
GFG demanded suspension of Constable Ritesh Faldessai for manhandling women and forcing them into buses.
Meanwhile, Santa Cruz MLA Atanasio Monserrate has decried the ‘selective’ and arbitrary imposition of Section 144.
Stating that the police could have contained the peaceful protest, Monserrate said, “It was unfortunate that in a democracy, peaceful protesters were treated like criminals; the police showed no mercy even on senior citizens and women. This showed a very ugly side of the protectors of the law, the police.”
Declaring his support for a fair and just investigation into the death of Fr Bismarque Dias, Monserrate said that he was “confident that the chief minister will follow up the investigation on a daily basis and that he would handover the investigation to a SIT of the CBI, if necessary.”
