MARGAO: The Margao Judicial Magistrate First Class on Monday adjourned the 2012 Velim case to November 2.
The 22 accused who were surprised that they had to appear before the court again on All Souls’ Day were informed by the judge that they had the option of seeking exemption if they could not make it.
The judge explained that as far as procedure was concerned, the summons had to be served and all 22 had to make an appearance before the court. Velim MLA Benjamin Silva was present in the court along with Velim locals and the accused.
The accused had appeared two months ago and had paid a bond of Rs 10,000 each and were asked to re-appear as some had not turned up on account of having not received summons or not being available.
While former Velim parish priest Fr Romanov Gonsalves was present this time and former Assolna Parish Priest Fr Lucio Dias was present again, there were still a few absent and the same errors such as spelling mistakes of the accused’s names were cited by Advocates Spencer Viegas and Rajeev Gomes who represented the accused.
The judge then issued a notice to investigating officer regarding the errors on the summons and fresh summons were issued. Advocate Gomes asked the judge as to why the case was not being dropped despite the government having given such assurances. He reminded the court that he had spoken about this the previous time as well.
When the judge asked the prosecution if they had received any instructions from the government, the prosecution replied in the negative. Gomes said it was not fair to the accused to wait for so long and that it was unacceptable for religious leaders to suffer ignominy as they are constantly asked to appear before the court. He also argued that there were seafarers and others whose jobs were dependent on the closure of the case and based on such hopes they had applied for jobs.
The judge also advised the accused to pursue the matter with the government on their demand for the case to be dropped.
The Velim MLA reiterated that the matter has been pursued with the government. He expressed solidarity with the accused and assured that he would continue to fight on their behalf.
The matter is expected to be shifted to the session’s court due to the seriousness of the charges against the 22 accused persons.
