Hearing in Thackeray case adjourned to Oct 6

Bhujbal’s lawyer, Jayant Jaibhave, said that since a new judge would be hearing the case, it would start from the beginning. He said that arguments from both sides on whether Thackeray should appear in the court for pleading guilty or not guilty, would be made afresh. He said that if the judge wanted the accused to appear before the court he might issue summons. Incidentally, Thackeray had appeared in the court twice in the past, on December 4, 1997 and March 8, 1999 and pleaded "not guilty".

The defamation case was filed by Bhujbal in the Nashik court on September 4, 1997, against Thackeray, Sanjay Raut and Subhash Desai (editor, executive editor and publisher, respectively of the Sena mouthpiece Saamana), accusing the trio of publishing defamatory reports in July 1997.

The reports published by Saamana on July 23 and 24, 1997, had accused Bhujbal of masterminding the desecration of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar’s statue at Ramabai Nagar, Ghatkopar, Mumbai. The defiling of the statue had led to a riot and police firing in which about a dozen Dalit protestors were killed.

The reports in Saamana, accusing Bhujbal of plotting the desecration of the statue, were based on an affidavit filed by Rajendra Mihilal Agarwal alias Raju Gupta from Shahada (Dhule). Agarwal had claimed to be a close associate of Bhujbal. Agarwal had said that a day before the incident took place he was in Mumbai and had met Bhujbal, who had asked him to desecrate the statue. Agarwal further stated that he had refused to obey Bhujbal and returned to his hometown, Shahada, where he read in the newspapers two days later that the statue had been defiled.

According to Bhujbal, many newspapers published the contents of Agarwal’s affidavit, but Saamana chose to incite Dalit sentiments by carrying stories stating that Bhujbal was the enemy of the Dalits.

Incidentally, Thackeray had appeared in the Nashik court on December 4, 1997 and on March 8, 1999, pleading "not guilty". Bhujbal had shown willingness to withdraw the case, provided Thackeray published apologies in leading dailies. Thackeray had refused to do so.