Bhima Koregaon clashes probe panel likely to resume work from Aug.

After a protracted hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the two-member fee appointed by the Maharashtra authorities to probe the causes of the 2018 Bhima-Koregaon clashes is likely to resume work subsequent month. It might report the assertion of Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar and different senior officers, mentioned sources on Friday.

Commission lawyer Ashish Satpute mentioned the recording of witnesses’ statements was likely to start once more from August 2 and that Mr. Pawar’s assertion could be recorded as properly.

Fifth extension

In February final yr, the Uddhav Thackeray-led Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) authorities had granted the fee its fifth extension.

The panel, comprising the previous Kolkata High Court Chief Justice, Justice J.N. Patel, and former Chief Secretary Sumit Mullick, was arrange by the erstwhile Devendra Fadnavis authorities in February 2018 to probe the sequence of occasions main up to the New Year’s Day violence in Bhima Koregaon and the adjoining villages that left one individual useless whereas heightening social tensions throughout the State.

The fee was initially given 4 months to submit a report, however its tenure was prolonged repeatedly so as to enable it to full the investigation and likewise due to monetary assets drawback.

Hearings of senior officers and Mr. Pawar had been scheduled between March 30 and April 4, 2020. However, the COVID-19 outbreak compelled the fee to defer all hearings till additional discover.

Two crackdowns

Following the clashes, the Pune City police carried out two countrywide crackdowns (in June and August 2018) in reference to the Elgaar Parishad- Bhima Koregaon violence by looking out the residences of a number of famous lecturers, activists and intellectuals recognized for his or her dissentious views towards the powers that be and their work among the many dispossessed.

The homes of Surendra Gadling, Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson, Mahesh Raut and Sudhir Dhawale had been searched within the first crackdown and people of the late Father Stan Swamy, Gautam Navlakha, Sudha Bharadwaj, poet P. Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira and Anand Teltumbde within the second.

The Pune City police’s case rests on an FIR registered on the Vishrambaug police station (in January 2018) below sections 153 (a) [Promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race etc], 505 1 (b) amongst others in reference to the ‘Elgaar Parishad’ held at Pune’s Shaniwarwada Fort on December 31, 2017 as a part of the bicentenary celebrations of the Bhima-Koregaon battle.

‘Inflammatory’ speeches

‘The FIR, based on a complaint from one Tushar Damgude, had accused Kabir Kala Manch activists of making a number of “inflammatory” speeches and delivering “socially divisive” presentations during the course of the troupe’s efficiency and recitals on the ‘Elgaar Parishad’, which lasted almost eight hours and witnessed the participation of hundreds of individuals from greater than 250 progressive social outfits, together with a number of Lleft-leaning and Ambedkarite teams throughout the State.

The raids and subsequent arrests of the outstanding activists and lecturers had been based mostly on this FIR, with the Pune Police claiming to have prolonged the scope of their investigation to unearth alleged ‘Maoist links’ held by these intellectuals.

In December 2019, Mr. Pawar described the arrest of the activists as “wrong” and “vengeful” and demanded {that a} particular investigation workforce (SIT) be arrange below a retired decide to probe the motion taken by the police.

Ambedkarite outfits’ demand

The fee’s alleged tardy efficiency has drawn the ire of quite a lot of Ambedkarite outfits such because the Pune-based Republican Yuva Morcha (RYM), which has demanded that the federal government represent a SIT to probe afresh the violent clashes that shattered Maharashtra’s social cloth on the event of the bicentenary of the 1818 Koregaon-Bhima battle.

RYM president Rahul Dambale has identified that the actual fact that the fee had complained to the MVA authorities of a extreme fund crunch confirmed the worst suspicions of Ambedkarite outfits that the erstwhile BJP authorities, which had set it up, had no want for the reality behind the riots to emerge.

Dalit outfits had alleged that the fee had been working below stress from the then BJP authorities, which allegedly been shielding Hindutva leaders Sambhaji Bhide and Milind Ekbote .

The RYM had demanded that the MVA authorities instantly direct the Pune Rural police to file a cost sheet within the case and arrange a trial court docket to probe the position of Mr. Ekbote and Mr. Bhide.

FIRs had been lodged on January 2, 2018 (a day after the clashes) towards Mr. Ekbote, who heads the perimeter outfit, ‘Samasta Puucho Aghadi’; and Mr. Bhide ‘Guruji’, founding father of the Sangli-based ‘Shiv Pratishthan Hindustan’. While Mr. Ekbote is out on bail, Mr. Bhide has by no means been probed so far.