Maha to drop cases filed in violence after Koregaon clash
The Maharashtra government on Tuesday decided to withdraw cases against those booked in various incidents of violence after Bhima Koregaon clash in January, as well as to compensate for the losses incurred during the incidents.
“The state government will withdraw the cases against those booked. However, history-sheeters who took advantage of the situation and indulged in violence will have to face the music,” Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis said while addressing the Legislative Council.
Dalit groups and leaders have been alleging that the Bharatiya Janata Party-led government has filed unnecessary cases against Dalit youths and arrested them.
In all, Fadnavis said, 622 cases have been registered against 1,199 people, and the losses suffered have been pegged at ₹13 crore.
Touching upon allegations that the BJP government is going soft on the prime accused, Milind Ekbote, in the Bhima Koregaon case, Fadnavis said all efforts are being made to secure his custodial interrogation. “The Supreme Court has given him conditional bail and said we can interrogate him. The Attorney General is fighting the case on our behalf so that we can secure his custodial interrogation,” the CM added.
He claimed that the state government had spared no efforts to get hold of Ekbote, combing various establishments in Pune,
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detaining his relative and even sending teams to Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh.
The Opposition, however, remained unconvinced and again alleged that the state is protecting him. “This man is giving interviews to the media, but the police could not nab him. This raises doubt on the intentions of the government,” said Nationalist Congress Party leader Sunil Tatkare.
Violence erupted when Dalit groups had gathered at Bhima Koregaon to celebrate the bicentenary of the battle between the forces of British East India Company and the Peshwa’s army, which was eventually defeated. The Dalit community commemorates the British victory as members of Mahar community, then considered untouchables, were part of the East India Company’s forces.
In the clashes that ensued between the two groups, more than 30 vehicles, including buses, police vans and private vehicles, were torched or damaged and one youth, Rahul Fatangale, 28, of Nanded lost his life.
The Bhima-Koregaon incident was followed by a crippling Maharashtra shutdown on January 3, organised by the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, led by Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of the architect of Indian Constitution, BR Ambedkar.