Questioning if the rule of law existed in Maharashtra, the Bombay High Court on Thursday asked whether Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis has been “helpless” and unable to take action against a Cabinet minister whose son has evaded arrest for weeks in a rioting case, PTI reported.
The matter pertained to clashes that erupted between workers of Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde’s faction of the Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party group led by Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar during the municipal elections in Raigad district’s Mahad on December 2.
The two factions, along with Fadnavis’s Bharatiya Janata Party, are part of the ruling Mahayuti alliance in Maharashtra.
Cross-first information reports were registered based on the complaints filed by the Shinde Sena and the NCP faction led by Pawar after the clashes.
Vikas Gogawale, who is the son of Cabinet minister and Shinde Sena member Bharat Gogawale, and his cousin Mahesh Gogawale were among those booked in the rioting and assault case.
The two men sought anticipatory bail in the case, but their applications were rejected by a sessions court on December 23, Live Law reported. Vikas Gogawale has allegedly been absconding since then, PTI reported.
In the court on Thursday, Justice Madhav Jamdar was hearing another application filed by Vikas Gogawale challenging a petition for anticipatory bail filed by Shreeyansh Jagtap, who is the son of former MLA and NCP leader Manik Jagtap, PTI reported.
Shreeyansh Jagtap had been granted interim protection from arrest in December.
Criticising the failure of the state government to trace Vikas Gogawale, the court asked: “Is the state’s chief minister so helpless that he does not say anything against even one minister?”
Jamdar added that ministers’ children commit crimes and roam freely, even staying in touch with their parents. “…but the police cannot find them?” PTI quoted him as saying.
The judge also sought to know if the police had recorded the statement of Bharat Gogawale, Live Law reported. Jamdar asked how he could continue to be a cabinet minister in the state when his son was accused of a crime and had absconded.
“Your police could have at least recorded the minister’s statement and let him say no he does not have any details about his son,” Live Law quoted the judge as saying. “If the state wants, it arrests a person within 24 hours but here more than a month has passed but you are unable to track him [Vikas Gogawale].”
Jamdar asked: “Is this the rule of law in the state of Maharashtra?”
Advocate General Milind Sathe, representing the state government, urged the court to adjourn the matter, saying that efforts were being made to “connect” with Vikas Gogawale.
In response, Jamdar sought to know what would be done after “connecting” with the absconding accused.
“I have instructions that the minister will be connecting with his son and thereafter he will be asked to surrender,” Sathe replied.
The judge subsequently listed the matter for hearing on Friday. He also directed the advocate general to ensure that Vikas Gogawale surrenders before the hearing, adding that appropriate orders would be issued otherwise.
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