Team Herald
PANJIM: The Mapusa Additional Sessions Judge Sherin Paul on Monday directed all the accused to remain present in Court on January 21 to face trial in the infamous 2008 Panjim Police Station attack case.
Panjim MLA Babush Monserrate and his wife Revenue Minister Jennifer Monserrate are among 37 accused to face the trial.
Justice Manish Pitale of the Bombay High Court at Goa in a 31-page judgment had directed that the trial should commence and be expedited as there was prima facie evidence against the accused, while dismissing the applications seeking quashing of the proceedings.
In a letter petition to the Administrative Judge of the High Court on November 9 Adv Aires Rodrigues had pointed out that the Supreme Court being concerned about the criminalisation of politics had directed that the criminal cases against politicians should be fast tracked but that it had not happened in Goa at least in the Panjim Police Station attack case.
The case was pending in the High Court for the last seven years. The Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), last November informed the High Court that investigation team has gathered all the relevant evidence such as bottles and stones which were brought to Panjim from Taleigao by the mob involved in the attack. It was a planned attack, Public Prosecutor Mahesh Amonkar had said during the hearing on the appeal filed by the accused to quash criminal proceedings against them is reserved.
The prosecutor further said that a policeman in civil clothes is one of the prime witnesses who has identified the main accused and that Jennifer was besides her husband Babush during the violence while Rodrigues too was present leading the mob along with the others.
