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Dabholkar murder trial: Judge to decide Covid-appropriate location
Special UAPA judge in Pune will decide in a week’s time whether the Dabholkar trial is to be held at the district court premises or Yerawada central jail as per Covid situation
PUNE: The special Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA) judge in Pune will decide in a week’s time whether the trial in the 2013 case of the murder of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar is to be held at the district court premises or Yerawada central jail - where three of the five accused are currently lodged. The judge said so on Wednesday during a hearing in the case built by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI).
Special judge S R Navander asked special public prosecutor (SPP) Prakash Suryavanshi to submit a list of witnesses he would be examining. Whereas defense lawyer, advocate Suvarna Avhad-Vast, denied the list of documents submitted by the SPP during the last hearing. “I have submitted the list of documents. Now that they have been denied, I will have to prove the documents in court during the trial,” SPP Suryavanshi said. Judge Navander told SPP Suryavanshi, “We will decide during the next hearing. You make a programme and give it to the court (for witness examination).”
The judge is considering using a bigger room in the court premises as an alternative in order to facilitate social distancing as the current courtroom has restricted space. The judge might also decide to hold the trial inside the jail. The judge said that these options are being considered as the defense wants the accused to be physically present when the trial begins.
Three of the accused - Virendrasing Tawade, Sachin Andure, and Sharad Kalaskar – were shifted to Yerawada jail from different jails in the state for this purpose. The two other accused, advocate Sanjeev Punalekar and Vikram Bhave, are out on bail. While Punalekar is facing charges of destruction of evidence, all others are facing charges of terrorism, murder and criminal conspiracy. All have pleaded ‘not guilty’.
Dabholkar was shot dead near Omkareshwar bridge in Pune at around 7.30am on August 20, 2013 while he was on a walk. Andure and Kalaskar have been accused of being the bike-borne shooters; Tawade has been accused of being the mastermind; Bhave has been accused of conducting the recee and providing the bike; while Punalekar has been accused of advising Kalaskar to throw the weapon away.
Advocate Avhad-Vast also rekindled the issue of an article written by advocate Nihal Singh Rathod published in a well-read Marathi daily. After the last hearing, the newspaper had published an apology written by the original author. Therefore, the judge called it an act of ‘criminal defamation’ but refrained from initiating any legal action against the paper’s editor and Rathod.
