Judge Desmond D’Costa’s Suspension. The unexplained suspension of Judge Desmond D’Costa has sent shock waves not only among Goans in Goa but across the world.
Anyone who knows Desmond will vouch for his incredible intelligence, his simplicity, his honesty and above all his ability and experience to dispense justice. The legal fraternity in Goa know and will bear this writer that Desmond enjoys an impeccable character in general and in particular as a judicial officer. The suspension of Desmond is obviously a figment of somebody’s wild imagination. Whoever reported adversely on Desmond perhaps needs to see a psychiatrist and should be deemed incapable of making rational decisions and expelled from duties as a judge Someone said "Power of Judiciary lies not in deciding cases, nor in Imposing sentences nor in punishing for contempt, but in the trust, faith and confidence of the common man". Obviously Desmond was well ahead of most judges of his time and emulated the best both in the present and past without succumbing to pressure and fear tactics. It has been said that “Respect of Judiciary emerges from expertise to sieve out facts from fiction. Power of Judiciary does not lie in convicting criminals nor punishing for contempt but in the trust, faith and confidence of common man of getting justice by application of same norms, for poor or rich, by the courts“. Desmond epitomized all these characteristics of the judiciary. Apparently Desmond may have refused to be compromise his integrity which resulted in swift and harsh retaliation of suspension. The existing judicial process is an unfair or ineffective procedure to discipline and remove corrupt judges and as in Desmond’s case can end up being used instead for the removal of independent, upright and progressive judges. Desmond has always been simple, judicious and gracious to a fault. Not the type to bend to pressure or succumb to corrupt system, the Government, the Police and a unscrupulous breed of Judges who need excuses for their combined inability to pin down a serial killer, to expeditiously dispense justice to the innocent before being proven guilty beyond doubt. Desmond exhibited the acumen, the wisdom and the courage to rightfully expedite the serial killer case. Mahanand Naik in all probability is a scapegoat for the Government and Police’s inability to solve the unabated rise in crime rate in Goa. Hence the resentment, the vengeance and ultimately suspension, by the intellectually incapacitated judicial official, of a luminary and progressive Judge that personifies Desmond D’Costa. The suspension violates every principle Of the law. Shame all this stink has spread beyond Goa. John Philip Da Silva Collaco California, USA
