The Bombay High Court at Goa today dismissed the applications seeking quashing of the proceedings in the infamous 2008 Panaji Police Station attack case and directed that the trial be expedited.
Panaji MLA Babush Monserrate and Revenue Minister Jennifer Monserrate are the main accused in the case which has been pending in the High Court for the last seven years.
Justice Manish Pitale today also rejected the request made on behalf of Revenue Minister Jennifer Monserrate to continue the stay of the trail for four weeks to enable her move the Supreme Court. Justice Pitale while rejecting the request observed that the Supreme Court had directed that the criminal trials against MPs and MLAs had to be expedited.
In a letter petition to the Administrative Judge of the High Court on 9th November it was pointed out by Adv. Aires Rodrigues that the Supreme Court being concerned about the criminalization of politics had directed that the criminal cases against politicians should be fast tracked but that it had not happened in Goa at least in the Panaji Police Station attack case in which Babush Monserrate and his wife Jennifer stand charge sheeted by the CBI for having on 19th February 2008 attacked and damaged the Panaji Police Station.
Adv. Rodrigues also stated that the very questionable stay of the criminal trial granted by the High Court on 4th December 2014 that has continued for seven long years was contrary to a Supreme Court order that any stay granted by the High Court expires in six months and that unless extension is granted the trial must go ahead.
Adv. Aires Rodrigues had also sent a copy of his letter petition also to the Chief Justice of India and the Chief Justice of the Bombay High Court.
Meanwhile, Adv. Aires Rodrigues has today stated that he would move an application before the Additional Sessions Judge Mapusa Sherin Paul seeking to assist the Prosecution to ensure that the trial is free and fair without any manipulation in view of the fact that the main accused Babush and Jennifer Monserrate are politically influential and very well connected.
Recalling that when the then Minister Dayanand Narvekar was charge sheeted the BJP had sought that he be sacked from the cabinet, Adv. Rodrigues has stated that the BJP should now Walk its Talk and drop Revenue Minister Jennifer Monserrate and also remove Babush Monserrate as Chairman of Greater Panaji and Development Authority and as Director of Imagine Panaji Smart City Development Limited.
