Lawyers representing Sameer Gaikwad, a member of the Sanatan Sanstha and a suspect in the Govind Pansare murder case, have finally overcome their differences of opinion and opposed the brain mapping plea of the Maharashtra police.
The police had sought the court’s permission for conducting a brain mapping test of Sameer Gaikwad, with the intention of getting clues about the modus operandi and the mastermind behind the murder.
On Saturday, the advocate representing Sameer Gaikwad in Kolhapur court submitted a 70-page reply opposing the government’s plea. Sameer Gaikwad is being represented by 31 lawyers from across the state after lawyers in Kolhapur refused to represent him. “We have opposed the plea saying that two tests have already been conducted on him and that no evidence has been found till date. He has been in police custody for 12 days now,” advocate Sanjiv Punalekar told The Sunday Guardian.
The Kolhapur court has reserved its judgement on the police’s plea. Meanwhile, Shiv Sena’s mouthpiece Saamna carried a scathing article against rationalist Shyam Manav who had recently alleged that the Sanatan Sanstha founder makes “human bombs” and that the organisation should be banned.
On Saturday, Saamna wrote, “There is already a long list of people who have decided to finish those who promote and spread the word of Hinduism. Now, Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti’s Shyam Manav’s name leads the list. Why doesn’t he seek ban on the green terrorists who have already converted Maharashtra into Afghanistan?”
The editorial calls Manav a ghost, and says such “ghosts” flourish in India due to the liberal Hindus. It asks why the judiciary too refuses bail to those who are even remotely connected to the Hindutva ideology. “Isn’t it also Talibani that bail is denied to Col Purohit, Sadhvi Pragya? People accused of more dangerous crimes roam freely on the political and social landscape of the country, but those who are even remotely associated with Hindutvavadi thought are made to rot behind the bars,” the editorial says.
“In many parts of Maharashtra, covert Pakistanis are moving around, brainwashing the youth to send them for terrorist training in Pakistan, and then convert them to human bombs. All this is proven. Some of these bombs have exploded in Mumbai-Pune recently.”
“…Maulavis in Kolhapur have come out with a fatwa asking women not to get into politics. Youths are waving ISIS flags in parts of the country. Those who kicked the ‘Amar Jawan Jyoti’ at Azad maidan a few years ago, also dreamt of turning the country into Afghanistan. But Mr Manav doesn’t want to utter a single word against them,” says the editorial, advising Hindus to ignore such people like they ignore superstitions.