Expedite rationalists' cases: Bombay High Court

Mumbai: Terming the trend of elimination of persons who oppose wrongdoings ‘dangerous’, the Bombay High Court, while hearing the petition on the 2015 murder of Communist leader Govind Pansare in Kolhapur and that of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar in 2013 in Pune, said that between adjournments some ‘precious life’ had been lost. The court asked the state to expedite investigations in the two murder cases. The bench referred to the gunning down of journalist Gauri Lankesh in Bengaluru recently to reiterate its observations. “One more precious life was lost last month when in an unfortunate incident, a liberal, like-minded person was killed in Bengaluru,” said the bench.

The investigating agencies have submitted chargesheets in the Dabholkar and Pansare cases, but the alleged shooters in both the cases are still on the run. A division bench was hearing petitions filed by the kin of Dabholkar and Pansare seeking an expeditious court-monitored probe into their murders. The petitioners had also aired apprehensions that the investigating agencies were not probing the role of the right-wing group Sanatan Sanstha in the killings.