advertisement
The Bombay High Court today observed that there has been a "dangerous trend" of eliminating all opposition and liberal values, which is giving the country a bad name, while apparently referring to the killing of journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru.
The observation was made by a bench of Justices S C Dharmadhikari and Bharati Dangre while hearing a petition seeking that the court monitor the probes into the killing of rationalists Govind Pansare and Narendra Dabholkar.
"This trend of killing all opposition is dangerous. This is giving a bad reputation to the country," the bench observed.
While the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) and the Maharashtra Crime Investigation Department (CID) submitted their probe reports in the Dabholkar and Pansare murders respectively, the bench noted that the progress made by the authorities so far had failed to yield any concrete results.
"While your (probe agencies') efforts are genuine, the fact remains that the prime accused are still absconding. And between every adjournment in the case, one more precious life is being lost," the bench said.
"One more precious life was lost last month when in an unfortunate incident, a liberal, like-minded person was killed in Bengaluru," the court pointed out.
"The probe agencies should alter their line of investigation, and make use of technology to nab the killers for it's apparent that the accused persons are smart operators. They have organisational backing, funding, technological support, and arms at their disposal," the court noted.
The court, however, dismissed the apprehensions of the counsel for the families of Dabholkar and Pansare that the agencies were not probing the role of right wing group Sanatan Sanstha in the killings.
"While the court can't make details of the probe public, we can say this much that the probe reports have examined all angles. They have not ignored the possibility of the role of Sanatan Sanstha in the case," the bench said.
Dabholkar was shot dead on August 20, 2013, in Pune while on his morning walk. Pansare was shot at on February 16, 2015 in Kolhapur and succumbed to injuries on February 20.
The court is hearing petitions filed by the kin Dabholkar and Pansare, urging it to monitor the investigations in both the cases.
(Breathe In, Breathe Out: Are you finding it tough to breathe polluted air? Join hands with FIT in partnership with #MyRightToBreathe to find a solution to pollution. Send in your suggestions to fit@thequint.com or WhatsApp @ +919999008335.)
(At The Quint, we question everything. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member today.)