NGOs demand wider consultations on Goa Police Bill before adoption

Panaji, Jul 6 : The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) and the Panjim-based Council for Social Justice and Peace (CSJP) have demanded a thorough public debate before the Goa Legislative Assembly adopts the proposed Goa Police Bill, 2008 in the budget session beginning here on July 19.

The organisations will organise a debate to discuss the pros and cons of the bill in the present form at the Institute Piedade in the city on July 9. It will be addressed among others by Advocate Peter D'Souza, Advocate Caroline Collasso, Navaz Kotwal, Coordinator, Police Reforms Programme, and Aditi Diya Nag, Consultant, CHRI.

''Though the bill deeply impacts residents of Goa, it has not been discussed with the public, who are the people, most interested in having better policing. Nor is it known if many good suggestions made by concerned citizens were taken by the Select Committee examining the bill,'' the two organisations said in a statement here today.

The bill was introduced in the State Assembly in August 2008 but the select committee sat over it. The committee has not held any public meetings unlike Kerala which has held them in every district.

In view of this, CHRI and CSJP called for holding the bill to facilitate wider consultations across the state by the civil society through a transparent process.

Navaz Kotwal, Coordinator, Police Reforms Programme of CHRI, which has been tracking the bill, said, ''The bill in its present form can not cure the ills that beset policing nor can it bring improvements''.