Not just a case of shoot and run

A special court in Pune convicted two men for the 2013 murder of Narendra Dabholkar, a physician and rationalist, who campaigned against religious superstitions, Friday. The court, however, acquitted three others, including Sharadchandra Tawade, who CBI named as the “main conspirator”, for want of evidence. The probe alleged that all five persons were linked to Santan Sanstha, a Hindutva outfit, though the latter has claimed that the convicts were “Hindutva activists” but have never been involved with the organisation. The Dabholkar murder was reportedly the first in a series of high-profile killings of Left-leaning, anti-Hindutva activists and writers over four years: from Kolhapur-based Communist Party of India leader and former MLA, Govind Pansare in February 201 to Dharward-based Lingayat scholar and former vice-chancellor of Hampi University MM Kalburgi in August 2015, and editor of Lankesh Patrika, Gowri Lankesh in Bengaluru in September, 2017. For instance, Dabholkar and the organisation he headed, the Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti, were in the bad books of Right-wing outfits because they championed the 2005 Maharashtra Anti-Superstition Bill, which the latter felt targeted Hindu traditions and practices.