Maharashtra govt looks to gain control over withdrawal of cases against activists

Another source pointed out that political opponents have been misusing the central investigative agencies against the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders for more than two years. “It is quite possible that the threat of central agencies can be given to these officials for withdrawing the case. And it needs to be taken into consideration and requires government control over it,” added the source.

As per the proposal of the Home Department, it has been proposed to withdraw the cases registered against political and social activists wherein the charge sheet has been filed between January 2020 and December 2021. These cases include the ones where there was no loss of life, and damage to the public and private properties was not more than Rs 5 lakh.

In 2020, the MVA government had also taken the decision to withdraw all the cases wherein the charge sheets have been filed till December 2019. Political parties and social organisations carry out various protests and agitations to attract the attention of the government to issues involving larger public interest and others, said an official from the Home Department.

The proposal, however, does not include withdrawal of cases against sitting or former MPs or MLAs as they are controlled by the top court judgment in the case of Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay v/s Union of India and requires the consent of the High Court for withdrawal.