Published 18:44 IST, April 20th 2020
Sena deflects blame for Palghar lynching, says 'Gujarat should have detained ascetics'
The political war of words over the Palghar mob lynching escalated further on Monday with Sena MP Sanjay Raut passing the buck to the BJP government in Gujarat.
The political war of words over the Palghar mob lynching escalated further on Monday with the Shiv Sena passing the buck to BJP. Talking to the media, Sena Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut contended that the incident would not have taken place if Gujarat- a BJP-ruled state had detained the ascetics instead of sending them back from the state border. While acknowledging that the lynching was a 'blot' on Maharashtra's tradition, he condemned the attempts to give a communal colour to the incident.
Sanjay Raut remarked, "This incident is a blot on Maharashtra's tradition. This should not have happened. But why is the opposition raising hue and cry? All of us are unhappy that two ascetics were killed in a village in Palghar. So far, the police has arrested 110 persons. And the culprits will not be spared. The ascetics wanted to visit Silvassa in Gujarat but they were stopped and sent back. This incident wouldn't have happened if the Gujarat government would have detained them and spoken to the Maharashtra government. The second thing is that some people should have given a communal colour to this incident. This is a very wrong thing."
Palghar mob lynching
The shocking incident took place on the night of April 16 in Palghar district of Maharashtra when two ascetics Mahant Kalpavruksha Giri and Sushilgiri Maharaj were travelling in a vehicle driven by Nilesh Yelgade to Gujarat for attending a funeral. The aforesaid three individuals were lynched by a mob who allegedly suspected them to be child kidnappers after they reached Gadchinchale village in Dahanu taluka. Reportedly, a group of 4 policemen reached the spot after the Kasa Police Station received phone calls. Their attempts to pacify the mob turned futile as the mob overturned the vehicle. Later, another police contingent arrived on the scene and managed to make the three individuals sit in two separate police cars. Thereafter, the crowd attacked the police vehicles, resulting in some police personnel sustaining injuries.
However, some videos have emerged which show police personnel standing mutely even as the mob was attacking the three persons. This has come in for a lot of criticism from leaders across the political spectrum. According to the Maharashtra Police, 110 accused persons including 9 juveniles have been arrested for the mob-lynching. The adults are in police custody while the latter have been sent to a children's home. Addressing the people of the state, Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray revealed that two policemen had been suspended. Mentioning that DG CID Crime Atulchandra Kulkarni was investigating the matter, he stressed that the incident was not communal. Thackeray has spoken to Union Home Minister Amit Shah regarding this horrific incident.
Updated 18:44 IST, April 20th 2020