Chavan Govt to review stand on Thackerays

A day after the Maharashtra government told Bombay High Court that it had no evidence to take action against Sena chief Bal Thackeray, MNS chief Raj Thackeray and Revenue Minister Narayan Rane for political vandalism, Home Minister RR Patil directed his department to reconsider its stand and see how action could be taken against them.

A day after the Maharashtra government told Bombay High Court that it had no evidence to take action against Sena chief Bal Thackeray, MNS chief Raj Thackeray and Revenue Minister Narayan Rane for political vandalism, Home Minister R.R. Patil directed his department to reconsider its stand and see how action could be taken against them.

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“The home minister has asked me to discuss with state’s advocate general on how the legal loopholes could be plugged so that those who incite the people should be brought to book,”said Additional Chief Secretary (home) Chandra Iyengar on Friday.

The government’s stand before the high court was based on the investigation so far. In cases of political vandalism, the arrested party workers said they did it on their own and their leaders did not incite them. There is a legal loophole since there was no link between the acts of vandalism and what the leaders had said — at least in the four cases cited by former Mumbai police chief J.F. Ribeiro in his letter to the high court based on which suo motu proceedings were initiated.

Iynegar said Patil wanted to review the legal grounds of these four as well as all similar cases to ensure that no party can exploit the legal loopholes.