News Analysis India

Tag: Koregaon Bhima

  • Koregaon-Bhima probe panel suspends hearing until Uddhav government provides suitable premises

    By PTI

    PUNE: The Koregaon-Bhima Inquiry Commission, probing the January 2018 violence near a memorial in Maharashtra’s Pune district, has told the state government that it is suspending all scheduled hearings till the government does not provide it a “suitable accommodation” in Mumbai to conduct the probe into the case.

    The two-member commission is headed by Justice J N Patel (retd).

    The commission’s lawyer, Ashish Satpute, told PTI on Monday that the panel is currently operating from the premises of the State Information Commission’s Office in Mumbai, and since the place is small, it becomes difficult to follow the COVID-19 norms.

    In a letter dated October 31 addressed to the state chief secretary and other government officials, the commission’s secretary, V V Palnitkar, said the commission has been requesting the government to provide a suitable accommodation in Mumbai at the earliest.

    The commission had informed the government about the proposed hearing scheduled from November 8 to 12, 2021, it said.

    “In the meeting dated October 28, Chairman of the commission, Justice J N Patel, advised Principal Secretary, Home, to take up the issue directly with the Chief Minister’s Office and to get a suitable accommodation on an emergent basis. It was also made clear that if a suitable accommodation is not provided by October 29, 2021, the Commission would suspend its hearing schedules,” the letter said.

    Unfortunately, the commission did not hear anything from the government till October 31, 2021 about the availability of a suitable accommodation, it said.

    Therefore, there is no other option before the commission but to suspend the hearing schedule till the government provides suitable accommodation to it, the letter said.

    “Accordingly, the Commission hereby suspends all future hearings till the government provides a suitable accommodation in Mumbai,” it said.

    The probe panel had resumed hearing in the case in August this year after a gap of nearly 14 months in the wake of COVID-19 restrictions imposed in the state.

    Violence had erupted near the Koregaon Bhima memorial on January 1, 2018, during the bicentennial celebration of the 1818 battle wherein the East India Company’s forces, which included sepoys of the Mahar caste, a Dalit community, defeated the army of the Brahmin Peshwa ruler of Pune.

    Dalits commemorate the victory as a symbol of the defeat of the old Brahmanical order.

    The Pune police had claimed that inflammatory statements made a day earlier at the Elgar Parishad conclave in Pune on December 31, 2017, allegedly backed by Maoists, led to the violence.

    The commission had been given multiple extensions by the state government to submit its report.

  • Koregaon Bhima commission summons IPS officers Param Bir Singh, Rashmi Shukla

    By PTI

    PUNE: A commission which is conducting inquiry into the violence that took place near the Koregaon Bhima war memorial in Pune district on January 1, 2018, on Friday summoned former Mumbai police commissioner Param Bir Singh and his fellow IPS officer Rashmi Shukla.

    Incidentally, the Maharashtra government, in another case, told the Bombay High Court earlier this week that Singh, now Director General of Home Guard, was “untraceable”.

    Justice (retired) J N Patel, who heads the inquiry commission, passed the order on an application filed by advocate Ashish Satpute seeking the presence of the two IPS officials.

    Singh was Additional Director General (Law and Order) during the relevant period so it was necessary to summon him to “bring forward true and correct facts, intelligence inputs as well as the information received by him,” said Satpute, who is the commission’s lawyer.

    Likewise, Shukla was Pune police commissioner when the incident took place and should be summoned, the lawyer said.

    Justice Patel said in the order that considering the posts Singh and Shukla held when the incidents of violence took place at Koregaon Bhima, they must have received “valuable inputs”.

    They can also file affidavits if they wish, Patel said, asking them to reply to summons by November 8.

    Shukla is now Additional Director General of CRPF and posted at Hyderabad.

    As to Param Bir Singh, who is facing at least four cases of extortion in the state, the Maharashtra government had said two days ago that it did not know his whereabouts.

    Violence broke out between caste groups near the War Memorial during the bicentennial anniversary of the 1818 battle of Koregaon Bhima on January 1, 2018.

    Dalit organizations commemorate the victory of the East India Company over the Peshwa of Pune in the battle because British forces included soldiers from the oppressed Mahar community.

    But some right-wing organizations opposed the celebration in 2018, leading to violence.