Given that the series was written in 2002, the author would have had little, if any, experience of Goan justice system pre-1962. I would treat the statement the same way as I would treat Arun Sinha's statement that the portuguese did absolutely nothing regarding agriculture, in his book "Goa Indica". I, for one, have been aware of the irrigation system built in South Goa and the impetus the portuguese gave to growing sugar-cane and raising the possibilities of having 3 rice crops a year, in an effort to improve Goa's self-sufficiency, although I would personally term that effort "too late".
A lot of Indian authors in recent years seem to want to belittle the Portuguese. Not that I want to praise them either. But these authors should view the situation in Portuguese-Goa as being a totally different situation to that of British-India. BK Boman-Behram puts this quite nicely - see http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg32573.html as I don't own a copy of the book. There are other myths brought up from time to time by Indian authors, such as Goans not allowed in clubs. It appears that these authors are mixing up experiences with the British or maybe inferring that if the Brits did it, so must have the Portuguese. Nothing could be further from the truth, as all Goans were in fact Portuguese citizens, and as such, provided people followed certain norms in mode of dress, they could go anywhere they pleased. As JC said, Goa provided some great judges and statesmen, going back to the 18th century, not only in Portuguese-Goa, but also other Portuguese territories. http://books.google.com.au/books?id=7DJLxYBYA-YC&pg=PA186&lpg=PA186&dq=great+goan+judges&source=bl&ots=AZ5uazPtha&sig=FkdcsREe_TXsUEPRtKzTF8ZWMYQ&hl=en&ei=zk9eTafSB5CIuAOthdSPDg&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CBkQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=great%20goan%20judges&f=false http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/msg06119.html ----- Original Message ---- > From: Santosh Helekar <[email protected]> > To: estb. 1994!Goa's premiere mailing list <[email protected]> > Sent: Fri, 18 February, 2011 8:59:17 AM > Subject: Re: [Goanet] Guilty until proven innocent? > > QUOTE > Under the Portuguese system, after investigation, if an offender was charged >with crime, then he was, generally speaking, presumed to be guilty and the >onus >was on the offender during trial to prove his innocence; whereas under the >Indian system, the accused is presumed to be innocent and the burden is >entirely >on the prosecution to prove his guilt and the Magistrate must hold him guilty >beyond any shadow of doubt. > UNQUOTE > .....Criminal Justice India Series: Goa, 2002, Page 137, Lines 12 - 17. > >
