9 years after murder, govt yet to frame rules under anti-superstition legislation drafted by Dabholkar

After the murder of Dr Dabholkar, the ‘Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act’ was passed by the state legislature in December 2013.

In a statement issued by MANS on Thursday, Dr Dabholkar’s daughter Mukta and son Dr Hamid have said, “This August 20, it will be nine years since the brutal murder Dr Dabholkar. The then government had promulgated anti-superstition legislation in Maharashtra. Since then, the government has changed three times. All major parties have been in power.

However, none of these governments could find time to formulate the rules that are required for the effective implementation of this legislation. This is really sad. Will the new government take steps to formulate the rules?”

The press statement further states that in the last few months, Maharashtra has seen several serious cases in which police are investigating superstitious practices, including the killing of nine members of a family in Sangli and other cases in Pune, Satara and Nagpur. For the effective implementation of the Act and to ensure its stringent enforcement, formulation of rules is very necessary. The press statement also stresses on the requirement to appoint a nodal police officer for each district for the enforcement of the law.

“While the government is not taking enough efforts for the enforcement of the law, with efforts from organisations like the MANS and also many conscientious citizens, over 1,000 offences have been registered across the state over the last nine years and in some cases perpetrators, self proclaimed godmen — belonging to all religious communities — have been convicted,” the press statement quoted MANS office-bearers Nandini Jadhav and Milind Deshmukh as saying.

A number of events have been organised in Pune and across Maharashtra to mark the ninth death anniversary of Dr Dabholkar on August 20. These include an exhibition of articles and news items on Dr Dabholkar, organised at Nehru Sanskrutik Bhavan on Ghole Road on August 20 from 10.30 am.

The same venue will also host the Dr Narendra Dabholkar Memorial Lecture at 6 pm by noted writer-scholar Dr Sadanand More.

The CBI had taken over the murder investigation from Pune City Police in 2014 and it has chargesheeted five accused till now, all of them allegedly linked to radical outfit Sanatan Sanstha. The accused include ENT surgeon Dr Virendrasinh Tawade, the two alleged assailants Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar, Mumbai-based lawyer Sanjeev Punalekar and his aide Vikram Bhave.

On September 15 last year, the special UAPA court had framed charges in the murder case against four of the accused — Tawade, Andure, Kalaskar and Bhave — for murder and conspiracy to commit murder, along with Section 16 of the UAPA pertaining to terrorist acts, and various provisions of the Arms Act for the use of firearms. The court charged Punalekar with destruction of evidence in the case.

All five accused have pleaded not guilty.

The CBI had, on October 14 last year, submitted before the court a list of 32 witnesses who are currently being examined by the prosecution and the defence in the ongoing trial.