Court orders probe to find why FIR against Sambhaji Bhide was delayed

According to the petition, Katarnaware filed a complaint on July 26 and recorded his statement at the New Panvel police station, seeking an FIR against Bhide for his alleged objectionable remarks against Buddhists and Muslims. Katarnaware submitted the complaint after watching videos of these speeches on YouTube.

On July 28, New Panvel police informed him that a cognisable offence (under the SC & ST Act) could not be made for the said speech. Following this, Katarnaware approached the Superintendent of Police, Protection of Civil Rights (CPR), Konkan Division, who directed the senior inspector of New Panvel police station to take cognisance of the matter. However, no FIR was filed.

On August 2, Katarnaware approached the court, seeking direction to the police to lodge an FIR against Bhide. An FIR was filed at New Panvel police station on August 6, a day before the next hearing on August 7.

Katarnaware then filed a petition in Panvel sessions court seeking action against New Panvel police station’s sub-inspectors Baban Sangale, Gokuldas Meshram, senior inspector Anil Patil and DCP zone-2 Pankaj Dhahane for the delay in filing an FIR. The petition mentioned that prompt registration of FIR is mandatory in cases of offences under the SC and ST Act.

To look into whether the policemen committed any willful negligence in performing their duty while registering the FIR, the court on August 19 ordered the police commissioner to carry out an administrative inquiry into the matter under the provision of sub-section 2 of Section 4 of the SC and ST Act.

This section has a provision to book public servants for wilful neglect of duty under the SC/ST Act. The section states that public servants can be booked on the recommendation or an administrative inquiry.

The inquiry should be carried out by an officer not below the rank of a deputy commissioner of police, and the inquiry reports shall be submitted before court within four months, the court order said.

Panvel resident Katarnaware’s complaint states that Bhide made a derogatory statement against Gautam Buddha, Jyotiba Phule, Periyar Naicker and other social reformers, that hurt the sentiments of their followers, the complainant said. In the FIR, the advocate has also mentioned links to the eight YouTube videos.

Police registered an FIR against Bhide under IPC sections 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc.), 153-B (imputations and assertions prejudicial to national integration), and 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) and Sections 3(1)(v), 3(1)(r), 3(1)(u), and 3(2)(va) of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, police said.

This was the third FIR recently against the Hindutva leader, for derogatory speech against national leaders.

Amid opposition parties’ demand for action against Bhide, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis earlier this month said in the Legislative Assembly that insult of national icons would not be tolerated. He also said that despite a demand from Bhide’s supporters, he was not provided personal security.