Barely a few days after the state government announced a special investigative team to look into the murder case of communist leader Govind Pansare, his daughter-in-law Megha Pansare says the fight for justice has now taken over the grief of his loss.
Barely a few days after the state government announced a special investigative team to look into the murder case of communist leader Govind Pansare, his daughter-in-law Megha Pansare says the fight for justice has now taken over the grief of his loss.
Appearing to be losing faith in the system, similar statements were repeated by Sandeep Shetty, the brother of slain activist Satish Shetty, who has been fighting for justice for five years now; and Mukta Dabholkar, daughter of rationalist Narendera Dabholkar, who was killed last year in Pune.
The kin of all three who were brutally killed in different parts of Maharashtra came together under the banner of "Hum Azaadiyon ke Haq mein" ?last week in Mumbai to share their stories about their struggle with the system.
"I know how ridiculous investigation has taken place in my brother's case in the last five years. It is not that the CBI or the local police are not capable of investigating, but it is all about the intent. Our system is completely biased towards the rich and powerful. I have been blatantly told that I am fighting a lost battle. But now it isn't for my brother that I want to continue this fight, but to expose how rotten this system is," says Sandeep, whose brother's case will now be re-investigated by the CBI after it found that some of its officers were not doing their job right.
Satish was killed in January 2010 after he used RTI to expose a series of land scams across Maharashtra. "I have evidence that a senior director told the investigating officer to shut the case, yet everyone including the judiciary is yet to take note of it. Such is the system we are living under," adds an aggrieved Shetty.
Story of Mukta's struggle is not much different. The family says that in her case, Dabholkar was openly threatened, and the family was defamed as being 'anti-religion'. "Two days after my father's brutal murder, a newspaper reported that the Bhagavad Gita says you pay for your Karma, and hence my father's murder stands justified," said Mukta. She too expresses minimal hope from the system. Dabholkar was assassinated in Pune on August 20, 2013 while he was on a morning stroll.
In Pansare's case, Megha claims that there has been a deliberate attempt by the probing agency to divert the matter. "They deliberately tried to mislead the investigation sometimes saying that it is an industrial dispute or a family dispute, whereas we kept on saying it has been done by right wing activists who objected to his remarks against right wing activists Nathuram Godse," she said.
Megha further claims that the investigating agency tried to irk the family by converting it into a family dispute and seeking bank details of family members.
Megha alleges that the recent decision to set up a special investigation team in the case has only come up as an 'act of defense' as the family had already filed a petition demanding the same in the Bombay hight court. The family also wants court monitoring on the case investigation. As of now, the case is listed for September 2015.
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