At the outset, it would seem that the families of slain activists Gauri Lankesh and Govind Pansare are being over-apprehensive about entrusting the murder probe to a single central agency, the CBI. But the concerns of the families seem justified if one considers the way the central agency has been handling the case of Narendra Dabholkar, the first of the four activists (including MM Kalburgi) who were allegedly killed by religious and right-wing fundamentalists. Dabholkar was gunned down in August 2013 in Pune. The probe into the murder has been criticised by rights groups and the monitoring court. Last month the Bombay High Court slammed the CBI for dilly-dallying on approvals in the probe, saying that the nation has taken enough “beating after the recent spate of killing of liberals, which were highlighted across the world”. The court asked the investigation agency to ensure that expeditious steps are taken in this regard.
The CBI submitted a chargesheet in the Dabholkar’s case in 2016, three years after the affable rationalist was murdered in cold blood in Pune. Even though the Special Investigation Team set up to probe the murder of Gauri Lankesh in Karnataka made significant progress in the case and found crucial links connecting the murders of Dabholkar, Pansare and Kalburgi —all dedicated rationalists who were also active campaigners against superstitious practices in society —,the CBI wasn’t able to coordinate properly with the teams probing the other cases.
It is really unfortunate that all the investigative agencies are taking such a long time to book the culprits. It sends an alarming message to the world outside on how regressive elements are being able to hold the society to ransom. Hence, bringing these murderers to justice is very important as it would also mean that the Republic has not gone back on its secular mores.
Deputy Editor
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