Bhima Koregaon, Elgar Parishad: One-Sided Probe

Hindu right-wing duo, Milind Ekbote and Manohar Bhide, the two main accused named by Anita Sawle in her FIR, are obviously still free.

This December 31, it will be three years since the Elgar Parishad held in Shaniwarwada, Pune, historically was considered the seat, of power seat of the Peshwas. The Parishad was attended by intellectuals, lawyers, activists, students, members of the Kabir Kala Manch and other participants. Also, on January 1, it will be three years since the Bhima Koregaon riots. Two independent cases interlinked by investigating agencies and the then Bharatiya Janata Party-led state government. In the last three years, we have seen multiple arrests of people who have been accused of being involved in the Elgar Parishad and being called Urban Naxals, Maoists and anti-nationals, but the Hindu right-wing duo, Milind Ekbote and Manohar Bhide, the two main accused named by Anita Sawle in her FIR, are obviously still free.

Case status

It has been over a year since Sawle approached the Bombay High Court asking why there was no action against the duo based on her FIR. She even said the Bombay HC in September 2019, had asked Pune Police to file a report about the alleged involvement of Bhide in the Bhima-Koregaon riots and submit their report, which they still haven’t done. It has been over a year and there has been no report and even the HC has not pulled up the police and investigating agencies. However, in the Elgar Parishad case, 16 people have been arrested. Most of the arrested have not been named in Tushar Damgude’s First Information Report (FIR) over the violence and moreover, they were not even present at the time of Elgar Parishad in Pune on December 31, 2017.

Pune City Police, as we know, have made the arrests based on Damgude’s FIR which is city-based and regarding the Elgar Parishad. The arrested are Sagar Gorkhe, Jyoti Jagtap, Sudhir Dhawale, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Rona Wilson, Arun Ferreira, Sudha Bharadwaj, Varavara Rao, Vernon Gonsalves, Ramesh Murlidhar Gaichor, Anand Teltumbde, Gautam Navlakha, Hany Babu and Father Stan Swamy. Since the time the NIA has taken over the probe, they have claimed there is ‘inadmissible’ evidence, to make sure all the accused arrested remain in custody. Sadly, the trial in this case has not even begun.

On February 2018, the Maharashtra government appointed a two-member judicial commission to probe the riots. This inquiry commission is headed by retired Chief Justice of Calcutta High Court, J N Patel, and former Chief Secretary and the present Chief Information Officer of Maharashtra, Sumit Mullick.

Meanwhile, nobody knows why no action has been taken based on the investigations of the riots at Bhima Koregaon by Pune rural police. In the affidavits filed with the inquiry commission the involvement of Bhide and Ekbote is absolutely evident. Moreover, Subdivisional Police Officer Ganesh More had informed the Supreme Court in an affidavit, on behalf of Pune Police on February 13, 2018, that Bhide and Ekbote posed a threat to witnesses/informants. He had also accused Ekbote of “actively participating” in the riots. However, no action has been taken since then. Meanwhile, More filed a fresh affidavit omitting Ekbote’s name.

The Superintendent of Police (SP) Pune rural, Mohammed Suvez Haq, has stated in his affidavit filed with the Bhima Koregaon inquiry commission, that the violence was ‘sudden’ and between two mobs. “From one side, a mob carrying saffron flags came to Vadhu Square, when Inspector Galande asked them to disperse. They began shouting slogans when a group carrying blue flags came to the square carrying blue flags. They too shouted slogans. We called for more force as members of both the sides were not in a mood to listen. They began pelting stones on the villagers and people who had come to the war memorial. The mob went out of control and force was used,” said Haq. This contradicts the claims made by the Pune City police in the lower court, where they have alleged hate speeches were made by the activists in the Elgar Parishad.

A common affidavit filed by Vishal Shankar Sonawane, Balasaheb Bhalerao and Sachitanand Chokhu Kadlak recount the events in the run-up to the Bhima Koreagaon riots on January 1, 2018. They have named Ekbote and Bhide as the main conspirators in the riots and have even named two extreme right-wing Hindu outfits for the first time, the Patit Pavan Sanghatana and the Bajrang Dal. They alleged the duo had called members of these organisations from Nashik. However, neither the BJP-led government or now, the MVA government, have asked the police or NIA to pursue investigations on these lines. This affidavit blames Haq for not taking cognisance of the build-up to the riots and failure to prevent the riots.

Two probes

These were two separate cases and First Information Reports (FIRs), one conveniently suiting the political agenda, while the other, from the ground, a distant memory. Firstly, Anita Sawle a Pune resident registered an FIR on January 2, 2018, accusing right-wingers Milind Ekbote and Manohar Bhide of the Shiv Pratishthan. Sawle had accused both of them of inciting mobs to attack the thousands of followers who had gathered at Bhima Koregaon to celebrate the 200^th anniversary of the famous battle in Maharashtra. The second was filed by a businessman, Tushar Ramesh Damgude, on January 8, wherein he had named Dalit leader Sagar Gorkhe, Sudhir Dhawle, Jyoti Jagtap and few others of the Kabir Kala Manch, Jignesh Mewani, Umer Khalid, Vinay Ratansinh and many others. In the first FIR, no arrest was made of either till March 2018, when Ekbote was arrested only after SC rejected his bail. However, within a month, Ekbote was granted bail by a sessions court.

On the other hand, we saw prompt arrests of the 16 activists and they are still in jail. Mind you, many more are being arrested. Bhide, who goes by his various aliases, from Sambhaji to ‘Guruji’ is rather a favourite of all politicians and political parties. In fact, by the end of 2018, the National Investigation Agency filed a chargesheet, a third in the Elgar Parishad case, calling the activists ‘Urban Maoists’. The agency went on to say, the activists were creating a ‘Dalit militia’. It should not come as a surprise that the investigating agencies are holding the activists in jail and charging them with all sorts of crimes.

The common thread binding all the political parties is that these activists are better inside the jail. Despite the outbreak of coronavirus in Taloja Jail and even the women’s jail, illnesses or old age, these activists and scholars are seen as dangerous. This sentiment is not for the right-wing activists.

Political power play

In three years, a lot has happened, even the government here in Maharashtra changed, but not the state of affairs. The outgoing Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, in an interview, had claimed that whether left or right of the centre, no one was above the law, but when it came to the two cases, he ensured his master’s ‘guruji’, Bhide, was never touched. Not that this present Maha Vikas Agadhi government is any different. Despite promising to relook at the charges and the case, the MVA leaders have only been making false promises of doing so.

See the way parties have used this entire case as per their whims and fancy. In fact, after the January 1 violence, there was a bandh called by Prakash Ambedkar and all the Dalit organisations affiliated to him. Violence on that day was reported from different parts of the state. At that time, the BJP-Shiv Sena was in power and interestingly, the Sena tore apart Fadnavis and his government for ‘law and order collapse’ and blamed the home department, which was BJP-led in the Union Government. In its party mouthpiece Saamna, MP Sanjay Raut accused the BJP-led government for the damage of property and economic loss caused by the violence. After this, the Sena continued its tirade against the activists arrested in Elgar Parishad case. The Sena equated these activists to Al- Qaeda and backed the arrest of Anand Teltumbde, the Dalit writer and scholar. Again in the editorial, Sanjay Raut said, the Elgar Parishad activists and their supporters showed similar views like Al –Qaeda, constantly attacking the police, the administration and the law. The rivalry between the Sena and the Communist Party of India goes a long way. But suddenly, the Tiger changed its stripes and in June this year, after the Centre handed over the Elgar Parishad investigations to the NIA, the Sena questioned the motives. The Sena invoked federalism in the country and accused the Narendra Modi-led Central government of interfering in the affairs of non-BJP governments.

Conclusion

The current scenario reflects the mood of the society and of course, the national agenda, where a non-scientific ideology, promoting Hindu patriarchy is being openly promoted. This Bhide, who has sadly, been spared of inciting violence, faces a case for falsely promoting the procreation of sons. Bhide was busy selling his ‘magical mangoes’ claiming, couples who ate these would have sons. He has got bail for these charges, but has not even been arrested for provoking riots. Some of the serious charges include attempt to murder, rioting, armed with deadly weapon, deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class, mischief by fire and explosive substance, with intent to destroy house, intent to damage property with fire, and criminal conspiracy. Firstly, he was protected by Fadnavis and his government as they gave him a clean chit.

The others, meanwhile, languish in jail. Swamy was denied a straw/sipper. Rao’s catheter was not changed for 90 days and he had become delirious and was hallucinating. It was only after the family knocked the doors of courts that in November, the HC directed the authorities to shift the octogenarian to Nanavati Hospital, noting he was almost on his death bed. Sudha Bharadwaj, who is also suffering from various ailments approached the Supreme Court, which asked her to file bail on merits.