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NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday ordered a fresh probe by Maharashtra police against Jitendra Awhad, former housing minister in MVA government, as he was allegedly shielded from investigations by the then governing MVA coalition in a case of kidnapping and assaulting of a civil engineer for a Facebook post against him.
Though the bench of Justices M R Shah and C T Ravikumar rejected a plea for CBI probe into the incident of April 5, 2020, it said, “The endeavor of the Court should be to have the fair investigation and fair trial only. Therefore, in the facts and circumstances of the case, we are of the opinion that a case is made out for further investigation and the state agency may be permitted to conduct a further investigation and to bring on record the further material, which may be in the furtherance of fair investigation and fair trial.”
Writing the judgement, Justice Shah said the Bombay HC High “committed a very serious error in not ordering and/or permitting the state police agency to further investigate into the FIRs 119 and 120 of 2020. The HC has not considered the relevant aspects of the case and therefore interference of this Court is warranted.” The bench directed the state police to complete further investigation against the ex-minister in three months and file a report before the trial court.
One Anant Thanur Karmuse, a civil engineer who worked as a consultant, on April 5, 2020, had shared on his Facebook account a viral picture of Awhad, then a cabinet minister of Maharashtra (who subsequently was added as an accused after the HC intervened), criticizing the ministers act of ridiculing the PM.
The SC extracted Karmuse’s allegations in the judgment – “According to Karmuse, at around 11.50 pm on April 5, 2020, four policemen, two dressed as civilians and two others in uniform came to his residence and forcibly took him to the bungalow of Awhad. Thereafter, the Minister instructed his men to beat him and make him apologize for circulating the picture of the minister (on Facebook). The minister threatened him to delete the post immediately. Thereafter, an ally of the Minister called the appellant on his number as he left his phone in his house and told his wife to delete the controversial post. According to Karmuse, he was mercilessly and ruthlessly beaten up by the police personnel present at the premises of the minister.”
karmuse had gone the next day to Vartak Nagar police station at Thane to register a complaint against the sitting minister and his men. He learnt that the minister’s associate has already registered a case against him under the Information Technology Act. He registered his complaint, but the police refused to include the minister’s name in the FIR. Getting no relief, he had moved the Bombay HC for a CBI probe, which the HC had refused.
Though the bench of Justices M R Shah and C T Ravikumar rejected a plea for CBI probe into the incident of April 5, 2020, it said, “The endeavor of the Court should be to have the fair investigation and fair trial only. Therefore, in the facts and circumstances of the case, we are of the opinion that a case is made out for further investigation and the state agency may be permitted to conduct a further investigation and to bring on record the further material, which may be in the furtherance of fair investigation and fair trial.”
Writing the judgement, Justice Shah said the Bombay HC High “committed a very serious error in not ordering and/or permitting the state police agency to further investigate into the FIRs 119 and 120 of 2020. The HC has not considered the relevant aspects of the case and therefore interference of this Court is warranted.” The bench directed the state police to complete further investigation against the ex-minister in three months and file a report before the trial court.
One Anant Thanur Karmuse, a civil engineer who worked as a consultant, on April 5, 2020, had shared on his Facebook account a viral picture of Awhad, then a cabinet minister of Maharashtra (who subsequently was added as an accused after the HC intervened), criticizing the ministers act of ridiculing the PM.
The SC extracted Karmuse’s allegations in the judgment – “According to Karmuse, at around 11.50 pm on April 5, 2020, four policemen, two dressed as civilians and two others in uniform came to his residence and forcibly took him to the bungalow of Awhad. Thereafter, the Minister instructed his men to beat him and make him apologize for circulating the picture of the minister (on Facebook). The minister threatened him to delete the post immediately. Thereafter, an ally of the Minister called the appellant on his number as he left his phone in his house and told his wife to delete the controversial post. According to Karmuse, he was mercilessly and ruthlessly beaten up by the police personnel present at the premises of the minister.”
karmuse had gone the next day to Vartak Nagar police station at Thane to register a complaint against the sitting minister and his men. He learnt that the minister’s associate has already registered a case against him under the Information Technology Act. He registered his complaint, but the police refused to include the minister’s name in the FIR. Getting no relief, he had moved the Bombay HC for a CBI probe, which the HC had refused.
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