Team Herald
PANJIM: MLAs Atanasio Monserrate and Jennifer Monserrate are among the accused directed by the Additional Sessions Judge Sherin Paul to appear before the Court to face trial in the Panjim Police Station attack on February 17.
The prime accused, besides many others, did not attend the trial that commenced on Thursday, with three of the accused currently residing in London. The Court adjourned the trial to February 17. The Monserrate couple is contesting the February 14 polls on BJP tickets. They are among 37 accused to face trial.
Justice Manish Pitale of the High Court of Bombay at Goa in a 31-page judgment had earlier 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, 2021 Adv Aires Rodrigues had pointed out that the Supreme Court, being concerned about the criminalisation of politics, had directed that criminal cases against politicians 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), informed the High Court that an 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.
