At a high-level meeting on Khairlanji massacre case on Monday, Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan told the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) to explore legal possibilities, so that the government's stand is well presented before the Supreme Court, an official press release stated.
“We had a discussion with CBI advocates about how the decision of the trial court could be retained. The caste atrocity angle, which was presented before the trial court, will also be argued in the apex court,” Deputy Chief Minister Chhagan Bhujbal told reporters.
On September 24, 2008, a trial court in Bhandara gave the death sentence to six persons and life imprisonment to two others. The Nagpur Bench of the Bombay High Court, however, commuted the death sentence on July 14, 2010.
Since the case is with the CBI and headed for the Supreme Court, the Maharashtra government's role is limited. “The State will be providing logistical assistance, say in terms of arranging a lawyer. The government basically wants that that the matter should be agitated properly,” CBI prosecutor Ejaz Khan told TheHindu over the phone.
Ramdas Athawale of the Republican Party of India and Congress MLA Nitin Raut, also a Dalit leader, were present at the meeting.
The government has decided to rope in a social science institute “like the Tata Institute of Social Sciences” to study the root cause of sociological problems that perpetuate atrocities on Scheduled Castes.
