NCP worker moves HC, alleges minister Bhaskar Jadhav hit him

A Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) worker has approached the Bombay High Court alleging that he was abducted and beaten up by aides of Bhaskar Jadhav, minister of state for urban development and law and judiciary.

A Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) worker has approached the Bombay High Court alleging that he was abducted and beaten up by aides of Bhaskar Jadhav, minister of state for urban development and law and judiciary.

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Inayat Mukadam, a resident of Chiplun, has filed a petition seeking police protection and registration of FIR against Jadhav, also a NCP member and MLA from Chiplun in Ratnagiri district of Konkan region.

A division bench of Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice PD Kode rapped the police for failing to act on Mukadam’s compliant. Mukadam’s counsels – Shirish Gupte and Harshad Bhadbhade – argued that he was afraid of going back to Chiplun. However, advising him to return to Chiplun, Justice Khanwilkar remarked: “Advise him to go back. We are certain that nothing will happen to him. That will also send a message… If anything happens to him, we know how to deal with that situation too.Courts are not here to just watch what is happening.”

Mukadam has claimed that few days prior to the incident, he had published a pamphlet that was critical of Jadhav, which led to the attack. In his petition, he alleged that Jadhav even abused the reporter of a local daily for giving publicity to Mukadam’s pamphlet.

The petition demands, among other things, transfer of the investigation to the Central Bureau of Investigation. The court has asked the public prosecutor to take instructions from Chiplun police and the matter will be heard next week.