The theft by an Advocate of Court property including gold and currency has taken our legal profession to a very new low. It is perhaps for the first time in Goa’s history that an officer of the Court has dared to stoop so low knowing fully well the serious consequences of his insane act.

 

Such important and vital muddemal property pertaining to criminal cases which was part of documentary Court evidence needed to be safely stored in a strong locker and couldn’t have been just left in a cupboard which could be opened with a screw driver by someone who did not require even elementary knowledge of a blacksmith. To be able to have committed such a heinous act in the first place is worrying indeed. 

 

It may now require the services of a retired Judge to suggest steps to be taken to ensure that our Temples of Justice and such court property in Courts across Goa is kept safe and secure from even a professional criminal let alone an Advocate who has taken our profession to the cleaners. It is vital that security must be stepped up to protect our institutions, the people that always work and use them and the property within them. 

 

This awful criminal offence committed by an advocate whose profession is supposed to be noble is a very serious and condemnable act. It is surprising that our Advocate associations have chosen to be silent on an act that needed to be vociferously condemned. The Advocate fraternity should have in one voice spoken loud and clearly against this very serious crime by an Advocate which has tarnished the fair name of the entire legal fraternity. An ugly scar that will remain for a long time to come, a wound that may never heal and will haunt us all in the legal profession. The silence of our fraternity on this serious issue is in bad taste and inexplicable.

 

As officers of the Court, have we proved to be spineless and speechless at a critical time? When the rule of law is so blatantly abused in our State where the crime rate is soaring, it is vital that Government and law officers do everything possible to ensure that people’s faith in our political and judicial system is not eroded any further.