2016 assault case: Mayor Tawde warned of bail cancellation for repeated absences

Additional Sessions Judge Gopal G Bhansali remarked that the case was filed in 2016, the charge-sheet filed in 2017 and committed to the court in 2019 but charges had still not been framed. “Continuous absence of accused reflects their behaviour to protract the trial,” (sic) he observed

MUMBAI: The sessions court on Wednesday imposed a ₹1,000 cost on each of three accused, including Mumbai mayor Ritu Tawde, for repeatedly avoiding personal appearance in a 2016 assault case. While allowing their exemption applications, it warned that failure to appear on November 2, when charges are to be framed, could lead to warrants and cancellation of bail bonds.

Mayor Ritu Tawde (PTI)

Additional Sessions Judge Gopal G Bhansali remarked that the case was filed in 2016, the charge-sheet filed in 2017 and committed to the court in 2019 but charges had still not been framed. “Continuous absence of accused reflects their behaviour to protract the trial,” (sic) he observed.

The court nevertheless refrained from issuing a non-bailable warrant, citing the accused’s “social status” and hoping they would cooperate in expediting the hearing. It fixed November 2 as the next date “as per [the] convenience of accused no1 [Tawde]”, as sought by her lawyer.

Advocate Durga Rajput, appearing for Tawde and co-accused Zakiruddin Gaffar Sayyed and Surendra Mishra, said that Tawde was the “first citizen of Mumbai” and had a busy schedule attending BMC functions. Sayyed and Mishra, she said, were social workers with their own busy schedules. Additional public prosecutor Iqbal Solkar opposed the pleas, pointing out that the court had already imposed a cost, and arguing that the accused were intentionally avoiding appearance in a case that was a decade old.

The judge said the accused could seek permanent exemption after charges were framed, subject to the conditions that the hearing could proceed in their absence, they would not challenge their identification and no witness would be sent back without being cross-examined.

The case relates to a 2016 incident at a BMC-run Urdu-medium school in Vakola. Tawde, then a BJP corporator, and six others allegedly entered the school amid a dispute over the transfer of a cancer-stricken teacher. A heated confrontation allegedly followed, during which the accused abused members of the school management and assaulted two teachers.

Tawde had earlier sought discharge but the plea was rejected in March by another sessions judge, who found that the victims and eyewitnesses had categorically identified her as “the person who beat them by hands inside the school” (sic) and held that the prosecution material was “more than sufficient to frame charges”. The court also said that “grave suspicion” was sufficient at the discharge stage and that it was not required to conduct a “mini-trial”.