Team Herald
MARGAO: While it was decided to prepare a mobile App that would monitor the status of complaints received under the Prevention of Atrocities against SC/ST rules, it was also decided to prevail upon the Home Department to publish the mandatory notification designating the investigating officer for such complaints.
This was decided at the meeting of the District Level Vigilance and Monitoring Committee convened by the Social Welfare Department at Matanhy Saldanha administrative complex, on Tuesday. The meeting was chaired by the Additional Collector Prasanna Acharya.
While discussing the number of complaints received and the present status, Deputy Superintendent of Police Kiran Poduval disclosed that only one complaint was under investigation while the other one has already been charge-sheeted.
The complaint lodged at Canacona police station by Pritam Lavu Kadam that on May 6, 2019 when he had gone to the Community health centre with his wife, one Babai Naik threatened him and also abused him by calling out his caste name, has been already charge-sheeted on October 18, 2019.
However, the complaint lodged at Quepem police station by Lourenco Oliveiro that on July 10, 2018 Maria Piedade D’Cunha along with five others trespassed into his field in Mullem village and uprooted his paddy cultivation and threw it in a nearby canal is waiting the identity parade to be conducted and hence is still under investigation.
At this stage, the need to update the progress of each complaint was felt and that Collector’s office undertook to take up the matter with the Information Technology Department to prepare an App that would inform what the status of any complaint.
The fact that the government has not yet notified the designation of the officer eligible to investigate these complaints even though the law states that it should not be below the rank of DySP was discussed at length.
Police representative pointed out that in North Goa, one case resulted in acquittal only because the notification was not published and expressed fears that the order may benefit cases that are currently under investigation.
The Additional Collector asked the Social Welfare Department to pursue the matter and get the notification published within a fortnight.
It was also decided to organise a training session for police inspectors, DySPs and other government servants associated with this Act to sensitise them about this law so that they deal with the cases properly and improve the conviction rate which it was pointed out was very low at the moment and it was proposed to have this training session latest by December 15, 2019.
Chairman of the SC/ST Commission Prakash Velip’s suggestion that a special cell be created in the police department to deal with these complaints on line with the anti-narcotic cell was accepted unanimously.
Additional Collector assured to initiate the procedure to get funds allotted to pay compensation for victims in such cases when it was pointed out that up to Rs 7 lakh can be awarded as compensation and how an acid attack victim was offered compensation of Rs 17 lakh.
