VELIM: The ghost of the infamous church raid and mob scuffle on February 26, 2012 continues to haunt Velim. Against the backdrop of outrage in the village, there is a strong feeling of disenchantment among the 20 locals and two priests who were booked with serious charges by the Cuncolim police.
The accused have been facing an uphill battle for the last three years as the offences filed against them a day after the incident have come in the way of their careers, travel and general peace of mind. They wonder if they are the victims of a deep-seated political rivalry and if politicians are trying to use this case to gain political mileage and divide the public in view of the Assembly elections.
“Our lives are at stake. We did not get peace and now the situation has gotten worse,” said an accused. He added that they faced interrogations when they went for CID clearances for passport purposes. The worst-affected are those who work abroad. The police would make them struggle when it came to getting approvals.
Offences were filed against Patrick D’Silva, Angelo Afonso, Darwin D’Silva, Agnelo Silva, Savio Silva, Nigel Caiero, Nelson Caeiro, Agnelo D’Souza, Marcus Barros, Adolf Fernandes, Tony Rebello, Mario Rebello, Alin Rebello, Atorim Pereira, Anjelo Fernandes, Savio Pereira, Max Colaco, Adlete Mascarenhas, Angelo D’Silva and Louis Fernandes under Sections 307, 143, 144, 147, 148, 186, 321, 324, 326, 333, 341, 342, 353 read with Section 149 of IPC.
Fr Romanov was also charge sheeted along with the then Assolna parish priest and current South Goa Episcopal Vicar Fr Lucio Dias. Fr Dias expressed shock that his name has figured on the list when he along with the parish priest had tried to protect the police.
Some of them were hopeful that the then chief minister Manohar Parrikar would stick to his promise of ending the case – a promise they still want fulfilled. Many others were doubtful as they had been forced to follow up on the case. In their dealings with the Cuncolim police, enough signals were given to suggest that the police would go ahead with the charge sheet until they received instructions from the home ministry.
Another villager said the parish priest and several others had tried to protect these police officials from being ambushed by the people, and it was the same people who were now facing serious charges of attempt-to-murder, among others.
In addition to the Velim gram sabha resolutions in November 2013, the accused demanded that the inquiry into the incident be made public as the people still did not know whether the raid was conducted on a real or false complaint.
The accused referred to the public meeting on February 27 that was convened by the Executive Committee of the Church Fabrica and the Parish Pastoral Council (PPC) under the banner of Church Committee (CC). The then parish priest Fr Romanov Gonsalves had addressed the gathering.
Agnelo Da Silva, who was a key member of the CC, said they are trying to mobilise all the other accused and hold a meeting shortly to decide their future course of action and seek legal opinion. He said, “We can’t trust anyone anymore.”
He and the other CC members had several meetings with the government and even petitioned the Chief Minister, but their efforts were in vain. He now finds himself as an accused as well. He added, “We want the government to end the case. If this is to be done by the Home Department and Law Department, it has to be done. This was the assurance given by Parrikar.”
CC members, some of whom are on the accused list, questioned the way the Cuncolim police had been handling the case for the last three years and said it looked like they were fabricating facts to harass them. One of the accused said, “What about the forcible entry, misbehaviour and arrogance of the police personnel with the parish priest and the people? This was not the first time they had visited and were without identification. They had intimidating visits and interrogations of the parish priest under different garbs in the weeks before the incident. Is this not a case of harassment and provocation?”
Locals stated that the police officers who were saved by the parish priest should have come on record and thanked the priest for his efforts to protect them.
At the parish meeting on February 27, Fr Gonsalves stated that he had done nothing wrong and had been harassed for 21 days prior to the incident for reasons unknown to him. He said he had only done his duty in preaching the Gospel.
He added that he had tried to protect the police from being beaten up and had even sent them to hide in his bathroom. Hence, he was deeply hurt to learn that the police were making him out to be the culprit when he had tried to save three officials whom he did not even know.
