 "Narendra Dabholkar")
A Pune court on Friday convicted two people linked to the Hindu right-wing organisation Sanatan Sanstha in the murder case of anti-superstition activist Narendra Dabholkar. They received life imprisonment for the murder, which took place in Pune on August 20, 2013.
"In the case of Sharad Kalaskar and Sachin Andure, the charges have been proved. They have been held guilty and imprisoned for life," the court ordered.
Additionally, the special Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) court also acquitted three other Sanatan Sanstha members, Virendrasinh Tawade, Sanjiv Punalekar, and Vikram Bhave, as the prosecution "failed to prove the charges" against them.
Who was Narendra Dabholkar?
1) Dabholkar founded the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti in 1989 and was known for his campaign against superstition and the caste system. He was fatally shot at the age of 67 while on a morning walk. The incident is said to be the first targeted killings against rationalist leaders since then.
2) The prosecution examined 20 witnesses, while the defence examined two witnesses during the trial. The five named accused were opposed to Dabholkar's crusade against superstition, which the prosecution had stated earlier in its final arguments.
3) Sessions judge PP Jadhav pronounced the judgement after a trial that lasted nearly three years, the Bar and Bench reported.
4) The case was initially probed by Pune police. However, after a Bombay High Court order in 2014, it was handed over to the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
More From This Section
CBI's probe in Dabholkar's murder
5) In its initial probe, the CBI named fugitives Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar as the shooters. However, the probe agency later arrested Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar and named them as the shooters.
6) The accused were booked under Indian Penal Code sections 120 B (conspiracy ), 302 (murder), relevant sections of the Arms Act, and section 16 (Punishment for terrorist act ) of the UAPA.
7) Tawade, Andure and Kalaskar are in jail, while Punalekar and Bhave are out on bail.
8) Notably, the CBI had named Tawade as one of the masterminds of the murder.
Dabholkar's murder followed by similar killings
9) Dabholkar's murder was followed by more similar assassinations of rationalists over the next few years, including the killings of Kannada scholar and writer M M Kalburgi and journalist Gauri Lankesh.
10) Kalburgi was murdered in Karnataka's Dharwad in August 2015, while Lankesh was shot dead in Bengaluru in September 2017. It was suspected that the culprits in these cases were linked to each other.
(With inputs from agencies)
