Agitated villagers lay siege on Colva police station

26 Jul 2008, 0443 hrs IST,TNN
Some 500 Benaulim residents laid siege to Colva police station early on Friday demanding the release of two villagers who had been arrested late on Thursday night. On learning that the two activists who had been at the forefront of the anti-mega project agitation had spent the previous night in police custody, residents led by activists of Benaulim Villagers Action Committee (BVAC) blocked the road in front of the police station for well over three hours, even as shops and business establishments downed shutters.
The Colva police, acting on a complaint filed by Benaulim sarpanch Carmelina Fernandes on Wednesday evening, had arrested Rosario Fernandes and Henry alias Patrick Fernandes from their houses well past 10.30 pm on Thursday. They were arrested under various sections of the Indian Penal Code on charges of unlawful assembly and obstructing a public servant from discharging duties. The sarpanch had complained to the police that a large group of villagers had obstructed, manhandled, threatened and abused her, preventing her from executing her official duties. The incident occurred between 2.15 pm and 4.00 pm at the panchayat premises on Wednesday. Besides Rosario and Henry, the sarpanch named four others, besides 64 unnamed persons.
Protesting against "police excesses" based on what they termed a false and fabricated complaint by the sarpanch, villagers assembled in large numbers in front of the police station and BVAC leaders addressed the gathering, condemning the police action. SDPO Umesh Gaonkar, accompanied by Salcete SDM Dipak Desai, rushed to the spot and stopped the impromptu meeting. This further infuriated the villagers, resulting in chaos and commotion, upon which the police invited a delegation of villagers for talks. A large posse of policemen was deployed to maintain law and order.
The delegation, led by BVAC leader Geraldine Fernandes, pointed out to Gaonkar and Desai that the villagers were arrested without justification and on the basis of a flimsy complaint. "The move by the police to terrorise villagers by arresting our activists in the dead of the night is highly deplorable, more so when we have been conducting our agitation against mega projects in a peaceful manner," she said