Govt nod for withdrawal of cases with no loss of life

After the Supreme Court in December last year had permitted the resumption of bull races in Maharashtra, the state government has given in-principle approval for withdrawal of criminal cases registered against the organisers, bullock cart owners and those who participated in the bullock cart races. The state government has directed the police to act on the withdrawal of cases in which there has been no loss of lives and those in which there had been no loss of more than Rs 5 lakh of private and public property.

According to the state home department officials, the government has directed the district level committees, headed by the collectors and police chiefs, that the cases which have involvement of former or current MLAs and MPs should not be withdrawn without the permission of the High Court.

"However, if the committees are of the view that the cases involving existing or former MPs and MLAs are eligible to be withdrawn, then they can make a request for the same before the court," said an official. "In the cases in which there had been no loss of more than Rs 5 lakh of private and public property, the expenses of damages should be taken from the offenders involved and once this is done, the committee, through the public prosecutor, should bring it to the notice of the court. The decisions taken by the court on the requests made by the committee regarding withdrawal of the cases will have to be communicated by the public prosecutor to the Directorate of Prosecution, who in turn will have to provide the collective statewide information to the state government. Detailed directives in this regard have been communicated to the district level committees," said the official.

However, cases which have involvement of former or current MLAs and MPs should not be withdrawn without the permission of HC