Team Herald
PANJIM: The Prime Minister’s Office has asked Chief Secretary Goa to reply to and act on the complaint moved by Pissurlem’s farmer leader Hanumanth Parab. Parab reported that he was brutally assaulted by DySP Sagar Ekoskar and Valpoi PI Prajyot Phadte, while protesting against the now illegal transportation of mining trucks through his village on March 11, and in spite of his police complaints and an inquiry ordered by the DGP the no action has been taken against them.
After waiting for three months Parab has also moved the JMFC court in Sattari pleading for directions to the police to register an FIR against DySP Ekoskar and PI Phadte. He simultaneously shot off a letter to the Prime Minister’s Office on May 19 and received a copy of the reply response by PMO to Chief Secretary Goa asking for “appropriate” action to be taken. In his complaint, he termed the “inquiry” ordered by the DGP as a “mere eyewash”.
The then Director General of Police I D Shukla (who is now the Chairperson of the Police Complaints Authority) had told Herald that an inquiry was ordered against the officers for the unwarranted action. It’s been mid-March to June, but the department has remained tight-lipped as it had never commissioned an inquiry.
The errant police officers are neither suspended nor purportedly facing an inquiry into allegations of assault on mining activist Hanumanth Parab. Close to three months and Parab is still awaiting a response from the police department over his series of complaints.
Police officers did speak to Herald “off the record” justifying that the matter is sub-judice, hence any action will follow after the court’s verdict.
“The complainant had moved the judicial magistrate in Sattari against the department’s failure to register FIR on his complaint and action against the DySP and PI. The matter is currently pending the hearing. We are submitting our replies before the magistrate as and when the matter comes up for hearing,” a senior officer told Herald.
On March 10-11, 2022, a peaceful protest by the farmers of Pissurlem near the mining pit against the illegality turned sour when the police deployed at the site turned aggressive. Parab, in his complaints to various authorities in Goa and Delhi, alleged that Ekoskar has been acting on behalf of the mining lobby, and owing to his political nexus, he continues to serve at the Valpoi police station despite his unpleasant behaviour.
Parab who was leading the protest has charged the DySP with threatening him to falsely implicate him for criminal offences and include his name in the “goondas list”.
“He was assaulting me, abused me and my family in filthy language. The entire incident that occurred in the Valpoi police station was captured in the CCTV installed at the Valpoi PS. If one takes a careful look at the video recorded thereof the entire incident will be brought to light,” he had said.
The farmer’s group had also petitioned the Goa Police seeking strict action against the officers involved in the act, which has fallen on deaf ears just as demands from various concerned netizens.
