Digambar Kamat, Vijai Sardesai condemn arrest of Shiroda youth during CM’s visit

PONDA: Leader of the Opposition, (LoP), Digambar Kamat and Goa Forward Party supremo Vijai Sardesai condemned the arrest of seven youth at Shiroda, who protested and demanded answers from CM Pramod Sawant during a visit to the locality yesterday.

“I strongly condemn the act of the Chief Minister Dr Pramod Sawant and police for arresting seven youth from Shiroda for questioning the CM on issues of unemployment, bad roads, etc. The right to protest is a democratic right. I demand their immediate release,” Kamat said in a media statement.

The BJP Government has started facing the ire of people. I compliment Goans for standing up and questioning the government. The days of the BJP Government are now numbered, Kamat added.

Demanding the release of the youth, Goa Forward Party leader Vijai Sardesai said it was a murder of democracy in Goa and stated that the Goa CM has become a dictator.

According to Goanewshub.com, the Goa Police on Saturday arrested seven Revolutionary Goan (RG) youth for allegedly disturbing Chief Minister Pramod Sawant’s event at Shiroda in South Goa, where he was campaigning for the upcoming Assembly election.

A Ponda police spokesman said that all the seven youth were placed under arrest for trying to create ruckus at a function where Chief Minister was the Chief Guest along with local MLA and former State Minister Subhash Shirodkar. “The state has taken suo motto cognizance of the incident and a formal police complaint has been registered against the group,” he said.

All the seven youth were detained at the venue of the function and were then taken to the Ponda police station, where they were placed under formal arrest.

The youths were booked under section 143 (unlawful assembly), 353 (assault on public servant), 509 (insult to the modesty of woman) and other sections of the Indian Penal Code, the spokesman said.

Revolutionary Goans claimed that all the youth were their supporters and had gone to question the CM over his ‘lies’ during the function.

“The group of youth have not insulted anyone, nor have they touched any policemen. They were just seeking answers from the chief minister,” Revolutionary Goans’ spokesperson told reporters on Sunday.

He said that the arrest was “illegal” and “unwarranted” as youths were only exhibiting their disappointment over the functioning of the government. Parab said that the chief minister should be ready to answer the questions of the general public.