Six years after rationalist and anti-superstition activist Govind Pansare was killed, his family says it is important that his shooters are arrested and the trial in the case begins as the number of fundamentalists are rising in the country.
The 82-year-old succumbed to injuries on February 20, 2015, four days after he was shot at five times while on a morning walk with his wife. Accused Virendra Tawde and Sameer Gaikwad are out on bail, but Sachin Andure, Amit Baddi and Ganesh Miskin are behind bars. Amol Kale and Amit Degwekar, both accused in the Gauri Lankesh murder case, have also been arrested in the Pansare murder case. However, Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar, believed to be the main shooters, are absconding.
Megha Pansare, the rationalist’s daughter-in-law, said, “Both shooters have not been found, and the trial has not yet started. The police are still in search of the murder weapons. The accused need to be punished, only then will there be an impact. What is happening today seems to be an extension of the four murders [Pansare, rationalist Narendra Dabholkar, journalist Gauri Lankesh, and scholar M.M. Kalburgi]. People today feel they can go scot-free. After 2014, there has been an increase in fundamentalists. Coming together of politics and religion is harmful in a country like India with different castes, religions and languages. The assassins and conspirators need to be punished.”
Noted journalist Kumar Ketkar said the four murders would not have occurred if there was no atmosphere of “Hinduism” after 2014. “It would have been impossible to do something like this even in the 1980s. Pansare’s murder was like a promo, a curtain raiser of the all the other murders that followed,” he said.
Pansare’s family moved the Bombay High Court in August 2015 seeking the constitution of a special investigation team and monitoring of the probe into the case. However, the matter was last heard in February 2019, when a change in the case’s investigation officer was sought.
Advocate Abhay Nevgi, appearing for the family, said, “We are not happy with the way the investigation is going. It is not sending the right message to society. The Karnataka government has done well in the Lankesh and Kalburgi murder cases.”
In February 2018, while hearing the case, Justice Dharmadhikari of the Bombay High Court remarked, “No corrective measures have been taken. The officers have been completely inept and insensitive in handling such sensitive cases. What is the point of the intervention of the highest court in the state if this is the result? We are not impressed. Is this how you deal with cases of crimes against society? The authorities are showing no urgency despite the tragic phase the country is witnessing, where one cannot speak or move around freely. Are we going to see a day when everyone will need police protection to move around, or to speak their mind?”
