Magistrate Shinde to probe beating up of 50 Colvale prisoners
GOANEWS DESK, PANAJI | 15 October 2015 21:40 IST
Goa government has ordered magisterial inquiry into the incident of beating up almost 50 prisoners mercilessly by over 20 jail guards of Colvale central jail last Saturday.
South Goa Collector Dr Sachin Shinde has been told to conduct the inquiry and submit the report within 15 days.
“I have already started the work”, Shinde told goanews.com.
The government also suspended two senior officers – Melwyn Vaz, who was the jail superintendent and jailor Krishna Usgaonkar.
Earlier, Inspector General of Prisons Elvis Gomes had suspended four jail guards, based on his preliminary inquiry.
A team of doctors also visited the central jail today to examine the injured prisoners.
On the other hand, Goa Human Rights Commission is also conducting independent inquiry into the horrifying incident.
The impact of beating up was so horrific that one Israeli prisoner lost his eye for ever.
Jail guards reportedly allege the Israeli boy was beaten up by the police in the van, while transferring the prisoners from Sada sub-jail to Colvale.
BACKGROUND
The incident had come to light on 12 October when some of the prisoners were brought to NDPS court in Mapusa for remand before Judge Desmond D’Costa.
After noticing that there was a major human rights violation as the prisoners were beaten up mercilessly, the matter was referred to the Goa Human Rights Commission while transferring some of the injured prisoners back to Sada and Mapusa judicial lock up.
Though jail authorities claimed that the prisoners were beaten up since they had refused to stay in the new jail, preliminary inquiry by Gomes had established that they were beaten up for no reason.
Vaz, who had submitted his explanation, had in fact claimed that the prisoners had attacked some of the jail guards, due to which they retaliated in ‘self-defence.’
Vaz was initially transferred as the chief officer of Mormugao municipality, but the government took serious cognisance of Vaz’s misdeeds and put him under suspension.
