IFFI: Protest over former Catholic priest's mysterious death

Paji, November 21 :Action on the second day at the IFFI was not in film screening halls, but outside the premises, where 300 people took out a peaceful march protesting the ‘sloppy’ police probe into the mysterious death of a former Catholic priest. All the protesters were arrested, even as police arrested one more FTII student for allegedly wearing a T-shirt bearing the institute’s me near the festival grounds. On Saturday, the Film and Television Institute of India’s (FTII) two ex-students Kislay and Shubham, who were arrested on Friday for protesting at the IFFI iugural event attended by Fince Minister Arun Jaitley and Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, were released on conditiol bail. The 300 protesters, including several dozen senior citizens and women and children, who were marching peacefully towards the Intertiol Film Festival of India (IFFI) venue in Paji, were arrested. The protesters included civil society activists, representatives of political parties as well as friends and family of activist and former priest Bismarque Dias, whose body was fished out of the Mandovi river on November 7. The mysterious death of Dias — who was leading a string of agitations against controversial real estate projects across Goa — and the flip flops by police on the ture of his death had led to a series of protests and candlelight vigils across the state. Jatin ik, a protester, on Saturday questioned the police’s handling of the probe, and also questioned the decision of the ruling BJP-led coalition to impose the prohibitive section 144 of the Crimil Procedure Code around the IFFI venue. “Police must conduct a thorough probe. (ians)