Court acquits 11 Pernem locals in 2015 unlawful assembly & road block case | Goa News
Panaji: A Pernem court acquitted 11 villagers in a 2015 case of forming an unlawful assembly and blocking the main road to protest against govt permissions issued to resorts and clubs in CRZ areas in Morjim and Ashvem.Members of the Pernem noise monitoring committee, the Pernem Swabhiman Sangathana, along with villagers, had blocked the main road during their protest at 10pm on Jan 3, 2015.They were accused of forming an unlawful assembly and blocking the road with stones and wooden trunks. Some had allegedly made provocative speeches against govt authorities and further threatened the setup to take the law into their own hands if music permissions not revoked.The Pernem court acquitted them after observing that the prosecution didn’t examine any persons who were allegedly obstructing the main road nor examined any independent witnesses. All the witnesses, including panch witnesses examined by the prosecution, were police witnesses, the court held. Those acquitted are Devendra Prabhu Desai, Prasad Shahapurkar, Nivruti Shirodkar, Updesh Shetgaonkar, Sandesh Shetgaonkar, Raghoba Shetgaonkar, Rajendra Satelkar, Uday Vaigankar, Rohidas Gawandi, Uday Nagvekar and Machindranath Shetgaonkar.
