Justice for Fr. Bismarque Dias
Donation protected
Today we have on hand the detailed order issued by the High Court in response to our writ petition on the case.
When the body of Fr Bismarque was fished out of the Mandovi on that fateful November night, it was very clear in the minds of every Goan that the man was done with. Killed, murdered in cold blood and removed to pave the way for the land mafia to carry on their nefarious work of destroying Golden Goa, the love of Fr Bismarque, for their own personal gain. And they thought it was a successful operation, removing the thorn that kept pricking and pestering their evil designs and plans.
Goans were hurt, dismayed and disappointed. Some stood up and raised their voices. Some wept in silence. Soon the voices began gaining momentum in just a matter of a few days, and this galvanized the killers to do what it took, to ensure that the truth was permanently hidden. A ‘committee’ was formed to ill advise the family of Fr Bismarque. Thinking it was in their best interest, these poor folks succumbed to their advice. While putting up a front that they were doing their best to catch the killers, they were actively involved in subterfuge and at every turn they attempted to sabotage the quest for justice. This so called committee was a very powerful lobby and they even had a couple of lawyers, besides politicians and other no-gooders who gave the impression that they were leaving no stone unturned and that they would ensure justice (sic).
Meanwhile, on the other hand, true Bismarque sparks came on to the streets to demand justice. They were beaten black and blue and hundreds were even arrested and transported away to far away police stations only to be released just thus ensuring that the agitation was diminished. Sadly, in a few weeks we noticed a gradual withdrawal by most of the activists who were in the forefront crying for justice. The reason was very basic and simple. Each of these activists had jobs to do and families to feed. This seemed to be a long drawn battle with the police actively supporting the stories about Fr Bismarque being an alcoholic, a pervert, a pedophile who was drunk that fateful night and who accidently fell into the river and drowned!!! The police even refused to file a simple F.I.R. in the case. Fr Bismarque was denied a basic right guaranteed under Article 21 of the Indian constitution!!!
Since fighting the establishment would cost money, we floated an international fund raiser and appealed to Goans all over the world to support our quest seeking justice for Fr Bismarque. We planned to take on the establishment!!!
Thankfully, Goans rallied with their ful-na-pakli and no sooner funds began trickling in, we initiated a private investigation which was to be the base of our legal battle that has just been won. As expected, the brickbats began to flow in too. Various fake id’s coupled with shameless idiots kept attacking us. In fact one such idiot has had the gall to criticize us even after we won the case!!!
We kept plodding on. The funding had high and low points. Demands were made for us to submit accounts. Very clever plot indeed as that would mean we would have to release confidential information which in turn could be used against our case! They used the traditional good cop bad cop tricks too. Fellows who we thought were our friends would telephone us or message us for information which we gave in good faith and that information was then twisted and published using fake id’s on social media.
In the meantime, our detractors began to tear up our reputation into shreds. I was challenged and named a ‘scamster’ along with Samir Kelekar who was instrumental in initiating the investigations single handedly (Sudeep Dalvi and Kennedy Afonso were roped in much later, only just before we went to court). Not surprisingly, quite a few kind hearted honest Goans stepped up in our defense. My sincere gratitude goes to these good people who stood up for us even though we did not know some of them personally. At this point, we decided to stop responding to those attacks altogether. We also stopped putting up updates about the case as it was clearly not getting us anywhere. However, we responded to queries from each and every donor who wanted to have information about the status of the case.
The accusations that results of private investigations would not be accepted by the courts have thus been quashed. We were also told by these detractors that we had no right to file the case in the court and only the family had that right. Well, our case was accepted by the court, and subsequently, after 45 days the family filed in a similar petition before the court. Since their petition was basically the same as ours as is now clear in the court’s order, the same was clubbed along with ours and processed together by the court. (so much can be said about Google trained lawyers who spread their ignorance on social media!!!)
Lack of updates affected our funding in a big way, but we had to keep silence on the advice of our solicitors. Having spent most of the approximately AUD 10,000.00 we managed to collect we had one big major worry as we had not paid our senior counsel Mr Subodh Kantak. However, we were confident that kind hearted Goans would step up to the plate as soon as we received judgment in the case and support us with any deficit in the funds. With a mere balance of AUD 2814.82 you can appreciate the stress on our heads at that time.
We have very good news to share with our donors: Our Senior Counsel, Mr Subodh Kantak has very kindly and graciously informed us that he was waiving his entire fee because he believed Fr Bismarque deserved justice!!! Thank you Mr Kantak from the bottom of our hearts and the hearts of every donor who supported our campaign to date and who will now come forward to support us in the future as the case goes for further investigation by the police who will be supported by us with all the information we have gained and collected on this case. Our efforts at further investigation in the case will definitely continue so long as we have a balance amount in our account.
In case any of our donors would like more detailed information, as always, you are welcome to get in touch with me with your questions, thanks.
My thanks go in a big way to our team of petitioners comprising Samir Kelekar, Kennedy Afonso and Sudeep Dalvi who were ably supported by our team of lawyers comprising Advocates Subodh Kantak, Srinivas Khalap, and Chaitanya Padgaonkar. You guys are the best team, you do rock!!!
Salus Correia
When the body of Fr Bismarque was fished out of the Mandovi on that fateful November night, it was very clear in the minds of every Goan that the man was done with. Killed, murdered in cold blood and removed to pave the way for the land mafia to carry on their nefarious work of destroying Golden Goa, the love of Fr Bismarque, for their own personal gain. And they thought it was a successful operation, removing the thorn that kept pricking and pestering their evil designs and plans.
Goans were hurt, dismayed and disappointed. Some stood up and raised their voices. Some wept in silence. Soon the voices began gaining momentum in just a matter of a few days, and this galvanized the killers to do what it took, to ensure that the truth was permanently hidden. A ‘committee’ was formed to ill advise the family of Fr Bismarque. Thinking it was in their best interest, these poor folks succumbed to their advice. While putting up a front that they were doing their best to catch the killers, they were actively involved in subterfuge and at every turn they attempted to sabotage the quest for justice. This so called committee was a very powerful lobby and they even had a couple of lawyers, besides politicians and other no-gooders who gave the impression that they were leaving no stone unturned and that they would ensure justice (sic).
Meanwhile, on the other hand, true Bismarque sparks came on to the streets to demand justice. They were beaten black and blue and hundreds were even arrested and transported away to far away police stations only to be released just thus ensuring that the agitation was diminished. Sadly, in a few weeks we noticed a gradual withdrawal by most of the activists who were in the forefront crying for justice. The reason was very basic and simple. Each of these activists had jobs to do and families to feed. This seemed to be a long drawn battle with the police actively supporting the stories about Fr Bismarque being an alcoholic, a pervert, a pedophile who was drunk that fateful night and who accidently fell into the river and drowned!!! The police even refused to file a simple F.I.R. in the case. Fr Bismarque was denied a basic right guaranteed under Article 21 of the Indian constitution!!!
Since fighting the establishment would cost money, we floated an international fund raiser and appealed to Goans all over the world to support our quest seeking justice for Fr Bismarque. We planned to take on the establishment!!!
Thankfully, Goans rallied with their ful-na-pakli and no sooner funds began trickling in, we initiated a private investigation which was to be the base of our legal battle that has just been won. As expected, the brickbats began to flow in too. Various fake id’s coupled with shameless idiots kept attacking us. In fact one such idiot has had the gall to criticize us even after we won the case!!!
We kept plodding on. The funding had high and low points. Demands were made for us to submit accounts. Very clever plot indeed as that would mean we would have to release confidential information which in turn could be used against our case! They used the traditional good cop bad cop tricks too. Fellows who we thought were our friends would telephone us or message us for information which we gave in good faith and that information was then twisted and published using fake id’s on social media.
In the meantime, our detractors began to tear up our reputation into shreds. I was challenged and named a ‘scamster’ along with Samir Kelekar who was instrumental in initiating the investigations single handedly (Sudeep Dalvi and Kennedy Afonso were roped in much later, only just before we went to court). Not surprisingly, quite a few kind hearted honest Goans stepped up in our defense. My sincere gratitude goes to these good people who stood up for us even though we did not know some of them personally. At this point, we decided to stop responding to those attacks altogether. We also stopped putting up updates about the case as it was clearly not getting us anywhere. However, we responded to queries from each and every donor who wanted to have information about the status of the case.
The accusations that results of private investigations would not be accepted by the courts have thus been quashed. We were also told by these detractors that we had no right to file the case in the court and only the family had that right. Well, our case was accepted by the court, and subsequently, after 45 days the family filed in a similar petition before the court. Since their petition was basically the same as ours as is now clear in the court’s order, the same was clubbed along with ours and processed together by the court. (so much can be said about Google trained lawyers who spread their ignorance on social media!!!)
Lack of updates affected our funding in a big way, but we had to keep silence on the advice of our solicitors. Having spent most of the approximately AUD 10,000.00 we managed to collect we had one big major worry as we had not paid our senior counsel Mr Subodh Kantak. However, we were confident that kind hearted Goans would step up to the plate as soon as we received judgment in the case and support us with any deficit in the funds. With a mere balance of AUD 2814.82 you can appreciate the stress on our heads at that time.
We have very good news to share with our donors: Our Senior Counsel, Mr Subodh Kantak has very kindly and graciously informed us that he was waiving his entire fee because he believed Fr Bismarque deserved justice!!! Thank you Mr Kantak from the bottom of our hearts and the hearts of every donor who supported our campaign to date and who will now come forward to support us in the future as the case goes for further investigation by the police who will be supported by us with all the information we have gained and collected on this case. Our efforts at further investigation in the case will definitely continue so long as we have a balance amount in our account.
In case any of our donors would like more detailed information, as always, you are welcome to get in touch with me with your questions, thanks.
My thanks go in a big way to our team of petitioners comprising Samir Kelekar, Kennedy Afonso and Sudeep Dalvi who were ably supported by our team of lawyers comprising Advocates Subodh Kantak, Srinivas Khalap, and Chaitanya Padgaonkar. You guys are the best team, you do rock!!!
Salus Correia
Organizer
Salus Correia
Organizer
Kilsyth VIC
