SOMETHING DIFFERENT By: Adv.Radharao F.Gracias I am not unaccustomed to midnight knocks on my door, by clients and earlier in my activist days, by the police. This knock, however, was soft and almost pleading, not the rough bang-bang, of the police. I opened the door and ushered in a former client, accompanied by a lady, clearly distraught, who was introduced, as the sister in law. Her sixteen year old daughter, studying in a local higher secondary institute, had eloped with a football player, from Air India. My immediate reaction was to draft a police complaint. She however pleaded that no police report should be made. “We have come to you to do something different. We know you can do it.” That was encouragement enough. As I ruminated over the problem, I remembered that I was representing Yousuf Ansari, Uday Konar and P.P.Jose, three football players, from the Air India Football team, who were involved in a fracas with players from Salgaonkar Sports Club, at the Nehru Stadium. I decided to call Yousuf but I did not have his contact number. Fortunately, I knew Rosario D’Silva from Ambelim, whose nephew Jacinto D’Silva was the captain of the Air India team. I managed to get Yousuf Ansari’s number through him. Yousuf, answered the phone, as polite as ever, was aware of the incident and knew the player well. I, then explained to him with a great degree of exaggeration that the police in Goa are in the process of issuing lookout notices for their player and that, an offence of kidnapping a minor female, is likely to be registered and his entire football career could be jeopardy. “Give me half an hour and I will be back to you” said Yousuf. However, he was back, sooner than expected, stating that the girl would be kept in safe custody and would be returned to Goa by the first flight next morning. She was home, sound and unharmed as promised the next day. When I last met her mother I was informed that she completed her studies and is happily married. She was right. Something different was done and it worked. And yes, I was not invited, for the wedding ! A few days back, I met Jaju Fernandes, the eminent “teatro” artiste in the premises of the Civil Courts at Margao and we reminisced about a particular “teatro” at Sao Jose de Areal, in the year 1990. It was campaign time, for the Assembly Elections and we were supporting Independent candidate Agostinho Barbosa, against Francisco Sardinha, of the Congress. It was late night and we had sponsored, a “teatro” of Roseferns to entertain and retain the crowd. As we arrived, a group of menacing Congress supporters, charged towards us, armed with stones and sticks. The police for some reason had not turned up, though informed well in advance. We felt completely vulnerable and in mortal danger. Suddenly, from nowhere, a police inspector materialised along with a constable. The inspector immediately got to business and shouted orders “who is that? Arrest them”, and a few other commands. The constable clanged the handcuffs. The trouble-makers melted away. We completed our meeting in peace. The police inspector was Jaju Fernandes, dressed for such a role, in the “teatro”. And, he played real life inspector, better than any inspector could and saved, the day for us. Jaju’s son, Brandon appears to have inherited his father’s talent, but in a different field. The young prodigy is considered to be the country’s foremost prospect and may soon be the first Indian, to play at the top level, in European football. Best of luck, to him. As you work through the Trial Courts, you come across all types of characters and situations. I was once approached, on behalf of an accountant, of a business firm, in Margao, who had been arrested, on a complaint of misappropriation. My client was one of the few, rare breeds, who narrated to me, the entire accounting process, from which, several things were self evident. I immediately realised, that the accused could not be convicted, not because, there was no evidence against him, but because the complainant would not dare to speak the truth. My client did appear to be culpable but to a much lesser extent than the complainant. When the matter came up for trial, the complainant attended the Court always accompanied by the son of a Superintendent of Police. He entered the witness box and deposed. I stood up to cross examine. After the initial general questions, I went into the fundamentals of the case. As I began to wade into deeper waters, the complainant realised, where I was taking him. It was obvious, he could not swim. He began, to squirm. I knew I was on target. As expected, he claimed that he could not answer the questions, without the account books. The matter was adjourned. He sought three to four adjournments and finally, informed the Assistant Public Prosecutor that he was not interested in continuing with the complaint and did not undergo, any further cross examination. The accused accountant had been the pawn, used by the complainant to defraud the Govt. of large amounts of Sales Tax. He was about to be exposed, if he were to face further cross examination. The accused was naturally, acquitted.
Posted on: Mon, 11 Nov 2013 15:08:21 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015