PI SUNITA SAWANT’S PETITION AGAINST AIRES: HEARING ON 15TH NOV

PANJIM: Crime Branch Police Inspector Sunita Sawant’s petition challenging the acquittal of Adv. Aires Rodrigues in the 2004 Ribandar Church case will come up for hearing before Bombay High Court at Goa Justice Mr.N.A.Britto on 15th Nov.

At the last hearing Justice Britto had directed that notice be issued to Adv. Aires Rodrigues and the same was sent to the Old Goa Police to be served on Adv. Rodrigues.

When the Old Goa Police tried to serve the notice on Adv. Aires Rodrigues at his Ribandar residence, Adv. Rodrigues declined to accept the notice as he was not the Respondent named in the notice.

Adv. Rodrigues told the police that he was unable to accept a notice which was not on his name. He told the police that his name was ‘Aires Rodrigues’ while the High Court notice was addressed to ‘Aries Rodrigues’

Adv. Rodrigues told the police that if the notice was for him they would have to get the name corrected or look for ‘Aries Rodrigues’ they may be looking for.

As the Old Goa Police have sent the notice unserved back to the High Court registry, Justice Britto will now have to decide as to how to proceed with the matter.

Inspector Sunita Sawant’s petition follows the dismissal of the earlier revision petition filed by the Government against Adv. Aires Rodrigues. It was dismissed by the Sessions Judge Mrs. Vijaya Pol on 4th June this year while upholding Panaji Chief Judicial Magistrate Mr.P.M.Shinde’s order discharging Adv. Rodrigues from the 2004 Ribandar Church case.

Judge Pol in her judgment had stated that Adv. Rodrigues was rightly discharged. Earlier Panaji Chief Judicial Magistrate Mr. P.M.Shinde had on 22nd December last year directed that further proceedings be stopped against Adv. Rodrigues in the charge sheet filed against him in connection with the 2004 Ribandar Church incident.

Along with Adv. Aires Rodrigues, 14 other Ribandar residents have been charge sheeted in the case including an 80 year old widow who is now bedridden. The charge sheet had been filed in connection with an incident that allegedly took place in 2004 at the Ribandar Church premises when Adv. Aires Rodrigues was leading an agitation demanding action against the then Ribandar Parish priest Fr. Newton Rodrigues for having allegedly molested a 13 year old girl from Ribandar.