Assault case: HC upholds order on jail term to Pacheco

He is currently MLA of Goa Vikas Party from Nuvem constituency

The Bombay High Court today upheld the order of a lower court sentencing legislator and former state tourism minister Miccky Pacheco to six-month imprisonment for assaulting a junior engineer of electricity department and asked him to surrender within a fortnight.

Justice A R Joshi of the court's Goa Bench upheld the order of Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC), Margao, of April 2011 sentencing Pacheco to six months' imprisonment for assaulting junior engineer Kapil Natekar after calling him to his office on July 16, 2006.

"The court has upheld the sentence and given 15 days' time to Pacheco to surrender. We will move the Supreme Court challenging the HC order in the meantime," advocate Surendra Desai, representing Pacheco, told PTI.

The JMFC's order sentencing the legislator was quashed by a district and sessions court in December 2012, releasing Pacheco under Probation of Offenders Act. The legislator was then let off with a warning.

Desai said the HC today quashed the district and sessions court order and upheld the JMFC order.

Pacheco is currently MLA of Goa Vikas Party from Nuvem constituency.

The police had investigated the case on the basis of a complaint lodged by the junior engineer. It had contended in the charge sheet that Pacheco had threatened the complainant with dire consequences.