Court clears 10 accused in 2021 anganwadi protest case

Panaji: The judicial magistrate first class (JMFC) court discharged 10 activists and political functionaries in a 2021 case involving a protest outside the chief minister’s official residence at Altinho. In an order, the court ruled that there was no “prima facie” material to frame charges.

“There is nothing to prove assault was committed by the accused persons against police. Thus, at this stage, though it is a preliminary stage, and having considered the facts and circumstances of this case, due to the absence of prima facie evidence against all the accused persons, no useful purpose is likely to be served by allowing a criminal prosecution to continue,” said JMFC Manisha Parkar Narvekar.


Goa police filed a case against the 10, including Hrudaynath Shirodkar, GFP general secretary Durgadas Kamat, and former Youth Congress president Varad Mardolkar.

The case dates back to a demonstration on Dec 29, 2021, when around 500 anganwadi workers marched to meet chief minister Pramod Sawant. Goa police alleged that the protesters, led by the 10 accused, formed an unlawful assembly and used criminal force against officers on duty in the high-security area.

The court said that the investigation relied almost exclusively on “cyclostyle” or repetitive statements from police personnel. Notably, the court found it “tenable” that no statements were recorded from high-ranking officials such as the executive magistrate or the social welfare director, despite their reported presence at the site.

A central point of the prosecution’s argument involved claims of physical violence against police, which the court dismissed due to absence of proof. “The complaint mentions the crowd turned violent and also assaulted a police personnel with a tooth bite by one anganwadi agitator/protester, and that the protesters used criminal force, deterred, and obstructed police force from performing their duty, but there is no evidence of the same,” the court observed.