The family of Mohsin Shaikh, a 28-year-old in Pune who was murdered in June 2014, allegedly by members of the Indian Hindu Rashtra Sena (HRS), is stunned by the order of the Bombay High Court which granted bail to three of 21 arrested in the case.
In her January 12 order, Justice Mridula Bhatkar observed, “The fault of the deceased was only that he belonged to another religion. I consider this factor in favour of the applicants/accused. Moreover, the applicants/accused do not have any criminal record and it appears that in the name of the religion, they were provoked and have committed the murder”.
Mohsin’s family plans to move the Supreme Court against the grant of bail to 21 accused, 14 have been granted bail so far.
Mohsin, who worked in a Pune firm, was attacked on his way home after offering prayers at a masjid on the night of June 2, 2014. His friend Riyaz Ahmed Mubarak Shendure was with him when they were targeted, by HRS members protesting a Facebook post of some derogatory pictures of Chhatrapati Shivaji and Bal Thackeray.
Later, a case of murder was registered at a local police station and 21 HRS members, including their leader Dhananjay Jayram Desai alias Bhai, were arrested. Four days ago, Justice Bhatkar, while granting bail to Vijay Rajendra Gambhire, Ganesh alias Ranjeet Shankar Yadav and Ajay Dilip Lalge, noted that the accused had attended a meeting “prior to the incident of assault. The applicants/accused otherwise had no other motive such as any personal enmity against the innocent deceased Mohsin”.
