Pune: The Dabholkar family on Wednesday expressed concern over the safety of rationalists after the second convict in Narendra Dabholkar’s murder was granted bail a couple of days before his 13th death anniversary on Thursday.The Bombay high court on Tuesday granted bail to Sachin Andure, one of the two men convicted for killing Dabholkar on Aug 20, 2013. The court also suspended his life sentence pending his appeal. The other convict, Sharad Kalaskar, was granted bail earlier.“It is a matter of concern that both the convicts have now got bail. We have approached the Supreme Court in the matter concerning Kalaskar’s bail and will do the same in Andure’s case,” Mukta Dabholkar, daughter of the rationalist, told TOI.Dabholkar’s kin had also approached the high court challenging the acquittal of three other accused and the exclusion of UAPA charges against Andure and Kalaskar. The plea alleged that the murder was part of a larger conspiracy by right-wing extremists.Along with this case, the bail developments in the murder of CPI leader Govind Pansare, scholar M M Kalburgi and journalist Gauri Lankesh raise concern over the safety of other rationalists in the society. The anti-superstition activists feel that the justice for Dabholkar family is being delayed because of the lack of political will.Milind Deshmukh, state executive committee member of Maharashtra Andhashraddha Nirmoolan Samiti (MANS), told TOI, “There was Congress-NCP govt when Dabholkar was murdered. Later, BJP and Shiv Sena alliance formed govts in the state, but none of these parties made enough efforts in giving justice to the Dabholkar family. Had the investigation into Dabholkar’s murder been done in a proper manner and the culprits were caught, the murders of Kalburgi, Pansare and Lankesh could have been prevented.”“It is quite sad that after 13 years of the murder, the mastermind is still out and even the convicted people have got bail. But we will continue with our fight,” he said.Avinash Patil, former working president of MANS, told TOI, “Dabholkar was the face of the anti-superstition movement. After his murder, there was a sense of insecurity among other activists and organisations associated with the movement. Therefore, the biggest challenge for us was to keep the momentum going. Though we are not entirely satisfied with the progress of the movement, it sustained even after the big shock.”“Following the murder of Dabholkar, more people got connected with the movement and we could expand MANS’ branches in other parts of the state. After the Maharashtra Prevention and Eradication of Human Sacrifice and other Inhuman, Evil and Aghori Practices and Black Magic Act, 2013 was passed by the state, close to 2,000 cases have been registered in Maharashtra, which I feel is the biggest success of Dabholkar,” Patil said.
