Goanet next meets in Goa: January 7, 4 pm (meeting point: Kala Academy canteen). Goanet founder Herman Carneiro will be there. See you there! ------------------------------
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Documented by Goa Desc Resource Centre Ph:2252660 Website: www.goadesc.org Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Press Clippings on the web: http://www.goadesc.org/mem/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Denying a person of his liberty is a serious matter, says Faria ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Denying a person of his liberty is a serious matter and therefore no arrests should be made unless the police are convinced that the presence of the accused is genuinely required for the purpose of investigation, said Mr S B Faria, Special Public Prosecutor and Special Judicial Magistrate.
"Arrest and detention of a person in police lockup can cause incalculable harm to the reputation of the person and hence no arrest should be made on a mere allegation of commission of an offence," he added.
Mr Faria was speaking after inaugurating the legal awareness campaign, organised by Govind Ramnath Kare College of Law, at Rivona. The special campaign has been organised to combat the evil of custodial crime and to introduce transparency and accountability in the functioning of the police department.
Mr Faria further said that influential persons commit offences and when they are arrested, they take the plea of medical sickness and get themselves admitted in hospitals.
According to him, this practice poses a serious hurdle to the investigation process. "Medical officers should be more stringent in admitting such persons," he opined.
Stressing on the importance of the awareness campaign, Mr Pritam Morais, programme co-ordinator, said that there is enough legislation to protect the citizen from police atrocities. However, the citizen is unaware of these safeguards and hence our police stations have become the houses of human rights violation, he added.
He said that as part of the awareness campaign, students of G R Kare College would visit the houses of the villagers and make the citizens conscious about their rights.
The principal of G R Kare College, Mr A S Nadkarni, speaking on the occasion said that "the Legal Aid Society of Kare College has been set up to educate the citizens about their rights and duties. Under the legal aid programme students would visit different villages along with lawyers and try to offer solutions to the legal problems faced by the society." He promised to conduct more such campaigns in the future.
Mr Sanjit Dessai and Mr Prasad Naik also expressed their views on the topic. Ms Ann Furtado compered the programme and Ms Priyanka Kantak proposed the vote of thanks.
A pamphlet containing the important rights of the arrested person, which has been compiled by Mr Morais, was also released on the occasion. The pamphlet outlines the rights of the arrested person like the right to be medically examined after arrest, the right to be produced before the magistrate within twenty four hours after arrest, right to be informed about grounds of arrest, right to consult the lawyer at the stage of custodial interrogation etc.The pamphlet will be freely distributed all over the state and copies of it will be kept at the police stations. -------------------------------------------------- The Navhind Times 29/12/03 page 3 -------------------------------------------------
======================================= GOA DESC RESOURCE CENTRE Documentation + Education + Solidarity 11 Liberty Apts., Feira Alta, Mapusa, Goa 403 507 Tel: 2252660 mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] website: www.goadesc.org ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Working On Issues Of Development & Democracy =======================================
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