Tags:
Journalism of Courage
Dhananjay Desai, 45, is back in the news after he was arrested, along with six others, by the Pune Rural Police on charges of attempted murder. A farmer from Mulshi taluka of Pune has alleged that he was attacked and threatened to hand over his land to Desai.
The Hindu Rashtra Sena (HRS) founder and ‘national president’ first hit the national headlines in June 2014, when he was charged in the murder of 28-year-old software professional Mohsin Shaikh. The 28-year-old was attacked in broad daylight, while returning home after offering prayers at a mosque, amidst tension over distribution of some pictures of Shivaji and the late Bal Thackeray. In the last week of January this year, Desai — referred to as Bhai by his many followers across Maharashtra — and 19 other HRS members, were acquitted by a Pune court in the case, citing lack of evidence.
Desai called his acquittal a defeat of ‘Rajakiya Jihad (political jihad)’ against him.
The notoriety he gained in the case rapidly grew the support base for the Hindutva rabble-rouser and his till-then fringe outfit. The police said that while the support base of Desai and the HRS continues to be mainly concentrated in Pune, Mumbai, Thane and Ahmednagar, the HRS now has presence across Maharashtra.
Over the past few months, he has been seen participating in several rallies organised by Hindu right-wing organisations across Maharashtra under the umbrella of ‘Hindu Jan Akrosh Morcha’, against primarily love jihad. Officials said that last week, he delivered a speech to a large crowd as part of the morcha, at Phulambri in erstwhile Aurangabad.
Lawyer Milind Pawar, who is defending Desai in some of the cases, said, “He has been acquitted in most of the serious cases against him. Those pending have been registered at the time of rallies, protests and speeches on various occasions.”
The FIR in the latest case is based on a complaint filed by a 35-year-old farmer of Mulshi taluka in Pune. WHY IS HE NOT NAMED? As per the complaint, XX was dragged out of another farmer’s house by an armed group, and threatened to transfer his land to Desai, or his entire family would be killed. He says he was hit on the head with a sharp weapon and a metal rod, and other local residents too terrorised with machetes and swords. The police arrested six persons, including Desai, in the case. They were remanded in police custody till August 9.
Desai is said to have founded the HRS in the early 2000s and even got it registered as a political organisation. Its self-claimed objective was to establish “a Hindu Rashtra over India”. One of the first cases against it was in April 2007, after it attacked the Star News office in Mumbai’s Mahalaxmi area for broadcasting a story about a minor Hindu girl wanting to marry a 23-year-old Muslim man. In May 2013, HRS workers were booked for protesting outside actor Sanjay Dutt’s house in Mumbai, alleging that the actor was being accorded VIP treatment even after his conviction in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case.
That September, the HRS again made news for its plans to hurl footwear at Dutt, who was at the time serving his sentence at Yerawada Central Prison, during a cultural programme organised by the Maharashtra Prison Department at the Balgandharva auditorium in Pune. While the event was called off at the last minute because of the threat of violence, the HRS still created a ruckus at the spot and a case was registered against the outfit. In 2014, the police booked Desai and HRS members for allegedly distributing pamphlets with objectionable content that could hurt religious sentiments.
Over the years, Desai has shared the stage with Hindu right-wing leaders, including Pramod Muthalik of the Shri Ram Sene. In 2013, he was the chief guest at the launch of a book authored by Sanatan Sanstha activist Vikram Bhave, who is a convict in the Thane auditorium blast case. Bhave is currently also facing trial in the case of the murder of anti-superstition activist and rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar. The HRS has, in the past, come out in support of 2008 Malegaon blast case accused Lt Col Prasad Shrikant Purohit and Sadhvi Pragya.
The list of criminal cases against Desai numbers 22. In six of these cases, he was acquitted for lack of evidence. As many as 14 cases are still sub-judice, while the status of two other cases is unknown. In the cases that are sub-judice, Desai has been booked for unlawful assembly, rioting, outraging religious sentiments and promoting enmity between groups.
