Case not being probed seriously: Kin

Although the accused have been able to evade the police,Dabholkar’s fight has spread across the country. Within days of the assassination,the Maharashtra government promulgated the anti-witchcraft ordinance,for which MANS was campaigning for several years. As many as five cases have already been registered with the police against alleged practitioners of black magic.

Family members said the state government had failed to appoint vigilance officers in every district,who would look after the promulgation of the Bill. “We hope the state government appoints officers at the earliest,” Hamid said.

Recently,Patwardhan and a group of MANS activists had travelled to New Delhi to meet political leaders to upscale the anti-superstition bill to the national level.

“We met Congress vice-president Rahul Gandhi,Union agriculture minister Sharad Pawar,Lok Janshakti Party chief Ramvilas Paswan and other leaders,and we received a positive response. In fact,Paswan said he would demand that August 20 be observed as national anti-superstition day,” Patwardhan said.

A month after the assassination,a magazine,Sadhna,he worked for several years,has witnessed a growth in readership. Vinod Shirsat,editor of the magazine,said,“Trustees and various members of the society have assured us their support so that we can continue with our work to spread the word of rationalism.”