Remembering Dabholkar: No Justice is Injustice | Jawaharlal Jasthi

NARENDRA ACHYUT DABHOLKAR (1 Nov 1945 – 20 Aug 2013)

While he was on a morning walk on 20 August 2013, Achyut Dabholkar was shot dead at point blank range by assassins who came and fled away on motor bikes. Dabholkar died on the spot. The body was donated to the medical college according to his wish. After autopsy, it was found that the body was mutilated to an extent that it was declared unfit even for academic purposes and returned to the family. It was cremated in Satara without any rituals. The pyre was lit by his daughter Mukta. His ashes were spread over his organic farm.

One decade later, after nearly three years of trial, a Pune court on 10 May 2024 convicted two persons and acquitted three others in the murder of Dhabolkar. Sessions Court Judge P P Jadhav sentenced the assailants, Sachin Andure and Sharad Kalaskar, to life imprisonment and imposed a fine of Rs 5 lakh. The Judge acquitted due to ‘lack of evidence’ Virendrasinh Tawade, Vikram Bhave and Sanjeev Punalekar. Tawade is suspected of being one of the masterminded in the plot to kill Dhabolkar. Tawade was arrested earlier in connection with the murder of Govind Pansare, the noted Marathi author. As the trial neared its end, a clear picture was emerging indicate that the murders of four rationalists – Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M M Kalburgi and Gouri Lakesh – between 2013 and 2017, were connected and perpetrated by the same group of people. They even used the same weapons, convincingly proving the involvement of a Hindutva organisation Sanatana Samstha.

Between 2013 and 2015, three prominent rationalists were assassinated for questioning superstition or Hindu Nationalism. Government officials were reluctant to condemn the assassinations. Minorities Minister in the Central cabinet, Mukhtar Ahmed Naqvi said, ‘you cannot judge the government on isolated incidents of violence’.

DABHOL IS A small seaside village on Konkan coast, about 250 km south of Mumbai. Narendra was the youngest of eleven siblings. He graduated as a doctor from the Miraj Government Medical college. During his college days he was the Captain of the University Shivaji Kabaddi Team and earned the Shiva Chatrapati Yuva Award for Kabaddi. He was married to Shaila and had two children, a son and a daughter. Narendra practiced as a doctor for twelve years. At the same time, he led a social justice movement, One Village-One well, against untouchability. He was an atheist and did not consult almanacs.
Since 1983, he had made himself a target of orthodox and revivalist groups and received many threats to his life. But he refused to seek police protection, saying, ‘If I have to take police protection in my own country from my own people, then there is something wrong with me. I am fighting within the framework of the Indian Constitution and it is not against anybody, but for everybody’. The reformer who fought against blind faiths had faith in the people to the extent of self-effacement!

He was the founder president of the Maharashtra Andhasraddha Nirmulana Samiti (MANS) since 1989. He dedicated his life to freeing society of blind faiths and illogical superstitions. He formed a committee for Eradication of Superstition in Maharashtra and challenged godmen, tantrics and Hindu ascetics. He was also the founding member of Parivartan in Satara to empower the marginalised and help them lead an honourable life. Narayanrao Patil, a minister at the time, was a founder member and chairman of the Maharashtra Andhasraddha Nirmulan Samiti. A trust was formed in 1993, registered in Satara with Prataprao Pawar as Chairman. Avinash Patil was also a trustee. When Narayanrao died on 17 January, 2022 his wife Saroj Patil (sister of Sarad Pawar) was made the chairperson. The trust MANS has 250 branches in the State and about 5,000 volunteers to watch over the implementation of the Anti-Superstition Act.

Dhabolkar was closely associated with the renowned rationalist Sanal Edamaruku of Kerala. He was editor of the Marathi weekly, Sadhana. He was the vice-president of the Federation of Indian Rationalists Associations. He supported the renaming of Marathwada University after Babasaheb Ambedkar and addressed more than 3,000 meetings in support of amelioration of the conditions of the Dalits. He questioned Asaram Bapu (now a convict in several rape cases) for wasting water in the name of celebrating Holi, when the State was facing draught in March 2013.

Dhabolkar was instrumental in steering the ‘Antisuperstition and Black Magic Bill’ that was pending with the State government for eighteen years. He made great efforts to get the Anti-superstition Bill passed in the State assembly. But it was opposed by both, the BJP and the Shiv Sena, who said that the Bill offends Hindu culture and customs. He told them there is not even one word against god or religion in the bill. It was against fraudulent and exploitative practices only. The State Assembly (mostly Congress-led) had seven sessions after the Bill was introduced, but there was no decision on that.

The day before his death, Dhabolkar returned from Mumbai after meeting the officials in connection with this piece of legislation. The Maharashtra cabinet met a day after the assassination of Dabholkar and issued an Ordinance promulgating the Act, on 24 August 2013 , four days after his death. However, the government tried to cover all the evil practices in the title of the Act itself, making it clumsy even to remember. It is called, ‘Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifices and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013’. It is a debilitated version of what was proposed by Dabholkar. It was also rendered ineffective by reserving the right to complain to the affected parties and not to the public as an witness to black magic or sorcery. The Act was held back in Parliament too and approved only after the Ordinance was amended as required and okayed on 18 December 2013.

Dhabolkar was posthumously awarded Padma Sri in 2014 in recognition of his untiring efforts in social reform. The All India Peoples Science Network (AIPSN) took 20 August as the National Science Temperament Day in honour of Dabholkar. India Publishers produced a short film, Bookshelf, in honour of Dabholkar.

Narendra Dabholkar

Reluctant Investigators: A bandh was organised in Pune in protest against the assassination. The then Chief Minister offered a reward of one million rupees for information about the assassins. On 2 September 2013 the police sent footage of cameras to the London Forensic Laboratory.

Ketan Tirodkar filed a petition seeking investigation by NIA, alleging that Hindutva activists are involved in the crime. But NIA stated that the case falls under IPC. The case cannot be taken by them just because the petitioner had a suspicion of involvement of ‘right-wingers’. The then Home Minister stated that the case will be handed over to CBI if there is no progress in investigation. Accordingly, it was given to the CBI. The trial of the case was conducted in the special court for Unlawful Activities Prevention Act [UAPA].

Passing an Act is one thing, a part of legislative function. But no Act comes into force immediately. It is necessary to form rules under the Act as guide to the officers who are to implement the law. That remains the responsibility of the executive, which is honorably called secondary legislation. While passing the Act, the legislature does not fix any time limit for drafting the rules. It remains at the discretion of the executive. Maharashtra’s Antisuperstition Bill was passed in December 2013. But the rules were not framed even nine years after that. The Act could not be brought into force. Meanwhile, governments changed three times. People continue to follow their faith and subject themselves to superstitions. In practice, many innocent lives were destroyed which could not be prevented as the Act was not in force.

The court observed that some sections of the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act (UAPA), an anti-terror law, were invoked in the case, but due to the ‘competent officer’s negligence’, these charges could not be proved.

The Plot Unravels: On 20 January 2014, two people were arrested based on ballistic reports. It took more than four years for the CBI to arrest Sachin Prakasrao Andure on 18 August 2018, identified as one of the gunmen. In May 2019, two more people were arrested, having links with Sanatana Samstha. One of them, Sharad Kalaskar, was identified as the one who opened fire on Dabholkar. Meanwhile, on public demand, the Karnataka government also passed the Prevention and Eradication of Inhuman Evil Practices and Black Magic Bill in 2017.

Sharad Kalaskar told the Karnataka police that he shot Dabholkar twice – once in the head from behind and after he fell down, he was shot again above the right eye. When Kalaskar fired the second shot after Dabholkar fell, his bullet was stuck. He ejected that bullet and then fired another bullet at the dying man. After that Andure also fired at Dabholkar. Kalaskar also admitted to being connected with the murder of Pansare in 2015 and of Gouri Lankesh in 2017. During interrogation, with reference to the case of Gouri Lankesh, Kalaskar admitted his connections with Hindutva groups and to taking a crash course on ideology, use of firearms and making of bombs. Virendra Tawade, the brain behind it all, told him to kill these people, he said.

Kalaskar was introduced by Tawade to Amol Kale, who was arrested in connection with Gouri Lankesh murder case. In a meeting held in August 2016, the group had had a discussion on people working against so-called ‘Hinduism’. In a meeting held in August 2017, plans were finalised and duties assigned to kill Lankesh. She was murdered in September 2017. Kalaskar also stated that there were plans to target B G Kalsa Patil, a retired judge of the Bombay High Court.

Hamid Dabholkar, the victim’s son, was examined by the CBI. He was also produced before the Special Court of Addl Sessions Judge and cross examined. He was asked whether the funds received from abroad by MANS (the Andhasraddha Nirmulana Samiti) were transferred to Sodhana Trust. This was with reference to the Foreign Contributions Regulations Act (FCRA). Hamid denied any knowledge of it. But he asserted that the accounts of MANS are regularly subjected to audit and reported.

In December 2015, Kiran Rijiju, the then Law Minister, told the Rajya Sabha that there was no report to suggest any linkage between the murders of Pansare, Dabholkar and Kalburgi. Rijju’s statement was immediately challenged by the Dabholkar children.

The CBI filed charge sheets against five persons including an ENT surgeon Virendra Tawade, a lawyer named Sanjeev Punalekar and his assistant Vikram Bhave. On 15 September 2021, the Special UAPA court framed charges against Tawade, Andure, Kalaskar and Bhave under sec.16 of UAPA and Arms Act for murder, conspiracy to murder and terrorist acts. Punalekar was charged for destruction of evidence. All pleaded not guilty.

In the name of Hindutva: In August 2013 when Dabholkar was murdered, it was the Congress-NCP government that was ruling Maharashtra. In February 2015, when Pansare was murdered it was BJP-Shiv Sena government. From 2019 it was Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government. Everyone claims it is the progressive state of Phule and Ambedkar, but nothing moves in the State. Punalekar is out on bail. He is himself a lawyer! CBI recovers a firearm from the Thane creek. It is the weapon used in killing of Gouri. After receiving threats to his life, Dhabolkar had handed over a file on the Sanatana Samstha to the Anti-Terrorism Squad of the Maharashtra police.

Sanatan Prabhat, the mouthpiece of Sanatan Samstha, wrote many articles condemning what Narendra Dabholkar was doing. They did not hesitate even to openly threaten him with serious consequences. ‘If you don’t stop this work of eradicating of superstitions, you will be made the second Gandhi’, they wrote insinuating that he too would be shot like the Mahatma.

Dabholkar had an organic farm as a family activity. He had established a trust, Parivartan, to facilitate receiving funds from interested private organisations and government schemes. The Hindu Janajagrit Samiti alleged that it had connections with Naxals and this aspect should be examined, a naked display of its vindictive attitude. The trust received funds from Swissaid, which encourages organic farming. A map was published in Switzerland in which Kashmir was shown as part of Pakistan. Immediately attempts were made to involve the Parivartan trust under FCRA and verify if the funds received for organic farming were diverted to anti-Hindu movements, led by Narendra. He was questioned as to why he was against only the Hindu faith and did not question the superstitions prevailing in other religions. The futility of the question is obvious.

In 2000, Dabholkar led a group of women to enter the Shani Shingnapur temple. But the trust in charge of the temple filed a case which is still lying with the court. Following Dabholkar’s death, in one of its editorials in Sanatan Pratibha, the Sanatan Samstha stated that his death was ‘God’s Wish’. What type of God he could be to make such a wish, is for anybody to draw his own conclusions.

Atish Shripad Dabholkar, appointed as a director of Abdul Salam International Center for Theoretical Physics in Triesta (Italy) is a nephew of Narendra Dabholkar.

After the death of Dabholkar, his wife Shaila was given charge of the trust. It has funds amounting to about Rs 7 crore, accumulated over 25 years. One of the trustees, Avinash Patil has started alleging that the Dabholkar family has taken over the trust. No funds were drawn by the family from the trust at any time. In fact, the trust is operating from the premises given by the family after Shaila took over. Naturally the Sanatan Samstha is happy at the development of differences and trying to make capital out of it.

The Hindu Jana Jagriti Samiti started calling Narendra Dabholkar an ‘urban Naxal’, betraying leads to the forces behind the murder of Dabholkar. It is the terminology used by prosecutors in connection with arrests under the abominable UAPA. They call ‘urban naxalism’ an enemy of India and compare it with the Carona virus. Some call it ‘a communist conspiracy’ anti-superstition campaigns, pro-Islam. When you coin a new term, you have the liberty to define it in any way you like. Once you are branded an urban Naxal,, you can be charged with anything illegal, like tax evasion, money laundering, misuse of foreign funds and what not? Atheism and anti-Hindu are equivalent to anti-India. Is it an attempt to cover them under UAPA? In fact, when final charge sheets were filed in September 2021 against the five accused, the draconian UAPA was also invoked alleging that they were striking terror among a section of the people. Obviously, the section of people terrorised includes the rationalists and social reformers. But no attempt was made at any stage to declare the Sanatana Samstha a terrorist organisation.

When the house of Vaibhav Rout, a Sanatan member in the suburbs of Mumbai, was searched substantial quantities of explosives and crude bombs were found. Plans to assassinate Prof K SBhagwan also were found on record. Two of Rout’s aides – Andure and Kalaskar – were arrested. In addition, ten other members involved in the murders of rationalists were also arrested, based on the information gathered. Amol Kale, formerly convener of Sanatan Samstha and leader of Hindu Janajagriti Samiti and Bharat Kurne, was involved in planning the murders of Pansare and Lankesh.

In September 2016, CBI filed a charge sheet naming Sarang Akolkar and Vinay Pawar as the real culprits who shot Dabholkar. But in the charge sheet filed in August 2018 Sachin Prakashrao Andule and Sharad Kalaskar were mentioned as the real shooters. A supplemental charge sheet was filed in November 2019 against Sanjeev Punalekar and Vikram Bhave who was already in prison. Punalekar, an advocate was released on bail. He is reported to have long association with Sanatana Samstha having represented them in many cases earlier. Bhave was alleged to have conducted a recce and helped plan the murder. He helped the culprits escape from the scene of murder and also to change vehicles midway.

One Manish Nagori, an arms peddler and his aide Vikas Khandelwal were arrested earlier. After the case was transferred to ATS in October 2013, their premises were raided and 40 illegal firearms were recovered. But they were released on bail and no charge sheets were filed in time. As there was no further evidence of their involvement, were not charged.

One of the witnesses, Sanjay Sadwalkar, a Hindutva activist, mentioned the name of Dr Tawade as the mind behind the murders. But there is no attempt to declare the Samstha a terrorist organisation! The name of Tawade was mentioned in all the charge sheets. But the Court always said, there was no ‘sufficient evidence’ to make him the brain behind the crimes.

The Samstha itself was established by Jayant Athavale for ‘Kshatra Dharma Sadhana’. The Kshatra Dharma consists in killing of all durjana (evil persons) who are against establishment of Hindu Rashtra. It is this spirit that is playing havoc with the secular character of the country now. The concepts of equality, freedom of thought and expression, social justice, and the right to dissent are all under threat.

In 2015, the son and daughter of Narendar filed a petition with Mumbai High Court seeking constitution of Special Investigation Team and the court to monitor the investigation. At the time, the CBI told the Court that out of the 32 witnesses only eight remained to be examined and the trial could be concluded in two months. In December 2022, the accused Virendra Sinh Tawade appealed to discontinue monitoring by Court as investigation was completed. (What could be his interest in it?) The Court also felt later, that monitoring cannot be a perpetual process and discontinued monitoring.

By the time investigation was closed, the prosecution could not find out the motorcycle used by the culprits and the weapons used in shooting Dabholkar. But another rationalist, Govind Pansare, was murdered in February, 2015 and the forensic experts determined that the weapon used was the same as used against Dabholkar. That means, the weapon was not destroyed but retained as an asset by the culprits. But the Dabholkar case investigators failed to recover it.

It was reported that the Pune police recruited even retired members to help in the investigation, obviously as they were supposed to be experts in the field. But they were seen to follow occult practices that were condemned by Dabholkar himself. When this was revealed, the Police Commissioner of Pune was transferred.

In 2014, one RTI activist Ketan Tirodkar filed a petition in the High Court to transfer the case to the CBI. At that time, the Dabholkar family was apprehensive of delay if the CBI is involved and objected to it. But, in view of lack of progress by the local police, the court handed over the case to CBI. The most radical change in that year was when BJP came to power and the investigation suffered due to lack of cooperation from the administration. The court was demanding a report of progress. Finally, in June 2016 Tawade was arrested.

Their only motive was that the rationalists were engaged in eradication of ghastly practices of human sacrifice and black magic and demanding legal ban on such practices. Thus rationalist were seen as those standing in the way of establishing the much-revered theocratic society and ‘Hindu Rashtra’. The charge sheets filed by the three investigation agencies confirmed that all the murders of the four rationalists were interconnected.

Finally, Hon’ble Judge Prabhakar Jadhav of the Pune special court pulled down the curtain on this drama running for more than a decade with scathing remarks on the ‘methods of investigation’. The judgment confirmed that the culprits did not have any personal enmity with the victim except ideological differences. It was also stated that considering the economic and social status of the culprits, they cannot be considered as the master minds behind the murder that was executed with such a perfect plan. There is a separate master mind behind it, the Judge said. The Hon’ble Judge took exception to the ‘very strange and condemnable’ attitude of the defense counsel esorting to unnecessary and irrelevant cross examination to prolong trial. An attempt was made in the final arguments to tarnish the image of the victim and justify the killing of Dabholkar by labelling him as anti-Hindu.

More important, the judge held that the application of UAPA is not justified. He asked the CBI and Police to introspect whether their deliberate failure was ‘due to influence by any person in power’. Usually, courts do not go to such an extent in referring to external influences on investigation unless there is something on record to prompt such a possibility.

However strong this judgment be in law, it could not put an end to the litigation in the case. The family members of the deceased Narendra Dabholkar were not happy that the main mind behind the crime, whosoever it was, was free. Of course, master minds are wise enough to avoid any evidence of their part. They deal with foot soldiers like the ministers dealing with secretaries. Nothing on record and it is so difficult to bring them to book. Assisting the criminal in performing the crime is also an offence, but not so grave as planning and execution of the crime itself. Moreover, this is a crime based on ideological differences, playing at a level above the ordinary criminals.

Dabholkar’s daughter Mukta has said, this is not the fight of the Dabholkar family alone; it is for all those who are interested in democracy. The daughter-in-law of Pansare, who was also one of the victims of this fanatics, is with the family of Dabholkars. Tawade was also involved in the murder of Pansare and she wants to know the circumstances that enabled acquittal of a criminal like Tawade.

Prithviraj Chavan, former chief minister of Maharashtra, said he was also disappointed at the failure of investigating agencies in collecting evidence against the conspirators. More surprising is the audacity of the Sanatan Samstha members to blame the former chief minister for ‘creating a false narrative to promote the Hindu terrorism theory consequent to the murder of Dbholkar’. They had the moral courage to blame the Dabholkar family for ‘using every opportunity to defame the Samstha during the trial’. Those who blame the Samstha as a Hindu terror organisation are ‘urban Naxals’ and deserve to be killed. While the resent political set up encourages such Hindutva goons, at least to undermine their courage, it is necessary to appeal the judgment and get the master mind convicted.

Legacy: Hamid Dabholkar, Narendra Dabholkar’s son, is a well-read and sensitive boy. He is qualified as a psychiatrist. In his school days, he was teased by his peers as the name was a mismatch of communities. It is not unusual but, in his case, it became a means of irritating the boy. Finally, he decided to know why he was named like that and asked his father about it. The father was expecting it. He patiently explained why he named his son after a Muslim. He told his son that Hamid Dalwai was a Muslim reformer and stood against foolish faiths and rituals. He questioned the system of Talaq in Muslim community. ‘Names have no religion’ he said. He showed him the documentary, Hamid – The unsung Humanist, directed by Maruti and Jyoti Subhash, featuring Naseeruddin Shah. ‘Through this film I got connected to both Dalwai and my father’ said Hamid Dabholkar after seeing the documentary.

‘There is need for Muslims and Hindus to become Indians first’, said Hamid Dalwai. Dhabolkar was deeply influenced by Mahatma Phule. His ‘Muslim Satyasodhana Sabha’ was designed on the lines of Phule’s ‘Satyasodhan Samaj’. Those were the days when communal forces were trying to radicalise the youth donning political garb. Any resistance to religious practices invited threats to life.

Naseeruddin Shah attended the first death anniversary of Narendra Dabholkar when Hamid Dabholkar had the opportunity to meet him. Naseeruddin explained to him how he managed to come out of the traditional influences of his family. Later, Hamid Dabholkar met Jaya Prakash Narayan and became an active member of the socialist movement too. Dhabolkar’s legacy continues in many ways with many of his followers still resisting hocus pocus. As long as the chief planner of these murders is free, there will be no justice for the four dead rationalists, which in effect, means injustice to their cause persists.

(Author: Jawarharlal Jasthi is associated with The Radical Humanist and active in rationalist circles)