Thackeray case adjourned to January 24

Bhujbal had filed the defamation case 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 the Marathi daily on July 23 and 24, 1997, had accused Bhujbal ofmasterminding 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 Saamana reports 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 and had said that a day before the incident took place he was in Mumbai and had met Bhujbal. He 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 shownwillingness to withdraw the case, provided Thackeray published apologies in leading dailies. However, Thackeray had refused to do so.