PANJIM: The charge sheet against Adv. Aires Rodrigues in the 2004 Ribandar Church case was filed with the approval of then Chief Minister Mr. Pratapsingh Rane. This has been revealed in the file notings of the case obtained by Adv. Aires Rodrigues under the Right to Information Act.
The approval by then Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane was given on 4th Feb 2005 which was within 48 hours of him taking over as Chief Minister on 2nd Feb 2005 after the exit of Mr. Manohar Parrikar.
The file notings also reveal that then Law Secretary Mr. V.P.Shetye on 3rd Feb 2005 called for the file and sent it to the Chief Secretary who after perusing the file on 4th Feb sent it to Chief Minister Pratapsingh Rane who on the same day approved the filing of the charge sheet against Adv. Aires Rodrigues
Charge sheets by the police are normally filed after only seeking legal opinion of the Public Prosecutor or the Director of Prosecution. It is not known as to why in this case the file was sent to the then Chief Minister Mr. Pratapsingh Rane who promptly consented to the filing of the charge sheet.
This was clearly contrary to the Supreme Court directives that the police investigation and functioning should be free from any political interference.
Adv. Aires Rodrigues and 14 others have been charge sheeted for having entered the Ribandar Church premises to demand action against the then Parish priest of Ribandar Fr. Newton Rodrigues for having allegedly molested a 13 year old local girl.
Interestingly the molestation case that was registered against Fr Newton Rodrigues under Sec 354 of IPC and Section 8(2) of the Goa Children’s Act on a complaint filed by the minor girl’s mother was closed after then Governor S.C.Jamir stepped in to rescue the priest from being charge sheeted
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WHO IS RIGHT AND WHOS IS WRONG GOAN CATHOLICS WOULDN'T KNOW BUT THE "GO AHEAD" IS GIVEN IN COMMUNAL INTEREST, ITS APPARENT.
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