On Sunday afternoon, members of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmolan Samiti (MANS) were busy in their 59-month-old routine of preparing for a protest on the 20th of every month. The only time they stopped was to attend the court hearing for the remand of Sachin Andure, one of the two accused who shot Narendra Dabholkar in 2013 and was arrested on Saturday.
Dabholkar’s daughter Mukta and son Hamid maintained that the latest arrest after five years of the murder is a step in a positive direction but coming late.
When asked if the arrest feels like an effort to subdue their protest on the occasion of the fifth death anniversary of Dabholkar, Hamid said, "The arrest has come in the light of Nalasopara and Gauri Lankesh incidents. So this feels like a logical extension of the chain of events. It will not affect our protest." MANS plans to protest at Omkareshwar bridge on Monday morning to demand arrest of the mastermind in the case, he added.
Mukta also shared the thoughts and said, "We will continue the protest until the main culprits (masterminds) are caught." She also observed that had the investigation progressed and if the arrests had been made earlier, the killing of MM Kalburgi, Govind Pansare and Gauri Lankesh could have been prevented. The investigating agencies themselves have found a common link in these murders."
Hamid also said, “The Bombay high court had come down heavily on the investigating agencies after we filed a writ petition (long ago). The court is taking stock of the situation every other week. It is monitoring the development in the investigation two to three times a month.”
{{/usCountry}}Hamid also said, “The Bombay high court had come down heavily on the investigating agencies after we filed a writ petition (long ago). The court is taking stock of the situation every other week. It is monitoring the development in the investigation two to three times a month.”
{{/usCountry}}The members of MANS share Dabholkar’s conviction to continue the protest and fight for justice.
"We have done it for the past several months and until the masterminds are caught, we will continue our peaceful protest at the same spot 20th of every month," said Nandini Jadhav, head of the Pune district unit of MANS.