Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Thursday extended the stay on the trial against two accused arrested in connection with assassination of communist leader Govind Pansare. While continuing the stay the court held that a balance has to be maintained between the rights of an accused and those of the family of the victim. The court was hearing a bunch of petitions seeking monitoring of the probe into murder of rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar and activist Govin Pansare.
The court had granted an interim stay on the trial in 2016, after Crime Investigation Depart-ment (CID) had informed the court that the CBI, which was investigating Dabholkar case, was waiting for forensic reports on the bullets recovered from the scene of both the killings.
Justice Revati, Mohite-Dere extended the stay on the trial when she was hearing the State CID’s application seeking extension on the stay on the ground that further investigation in the case was still on to see if there was any link between the two killings.
During hearing, Ashok Mundargi, counsel for CID told the court that reports received from the forensic labs in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Karnataka points at some links between both the assassinations. Though advocate Sanjeev Punalekar on behalf of one of the arrested accused Virendra Tawde had opposed the application saying his client was behind bars since 2016 and his rights for speedy and just trial should be protected.
However, Justice Dere extended the stay saying the court have to keep in mind the rights of the victim’s family members also.
