Bhima Koregaon violence: Bombay HC turns down state request to appoint sitting judge for probe

Her letter stated that the government’s request was reviewed by the High Court’s administrative committee. Further, upon the deliberation of the Supreme Court’s model guidelines in this regard, it said that it would be appropriate to nominate a retired judge for the task.

The government on Friday announced the formation of a two-man inquiry commission headed by former Calcutta High Court Chief Justice J N Patel under the Commissions of Inquiry Act, 1952. Serving Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sumit Mullick will be the other member on the panel.

The commission, which is expected to submit its report in four months, has been asked to probe the reason behind the violence and those responsible for it. It has also been asked to fix responsibility. The role of the local administration and the police in responding to the violence will be probed too. The violence that had occurred during the bicentennial event to commemorate the Koregaon Bhima battle had killed one person and led to widespread protests across Maharashtra.

The police have filed criminal cases against Samasta Hindu Aghadi leader and former BJP corporator Milind Ekbote and Shiv Pratisthan chief Sambhaji Bhide in connection with the January 1 violence. The commission’s scope of work includes probing whether any group had orchestrated the violence.

Maharashtra Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant said his party had kept asking how could the government suo moto declare an inquiry under a serving judge, referring to the earlier announcement by Fadnavis. “@Dev_Fadnavis govt has fallen flat on it’s face as request of govt to hv a serving Judge for Inquiry of #bhimakoregaonviolence has been denied by HC CJ,” he tweeted. “We kept asking that how can govt Suo Motu declare Inquiry under serving judge. Now enquiry to be conducted under retired judge,” he said in another tweet.