Jyoti Punwani |
The CBI, after finally registering a case under section 302 (murder) against Kapse, exonerated him and filed a closure report in 2011.The CBI disbelieved all the eye-witnesses, including Mapkar, who named Kapse responsible for the firing as the eye-witnesses had been accused of rioting, murder, attempted murder and rioting with deadly weapons.
Even though the eye-witnesses were acquitted in 2008 and Mapkar was acquitted in 2009 the CBI chose to go with the police’s narrative which Justice BN Srikrishna had characterised as `wholly unbelievable’ and accepted the statement of a witness who contradicted Mapkar. “Had I wanted to give up, I would have done so years ago. I have seen the way Nikhil Kapse shot down the people who had gathered to offer namaz at Hari Masjid. I owe it to them to fight for justice, however long it may take,“ Mapkar said.
“The CBI’s intentions were clear when they didn’t arrest Kapse despite charging him with murder. The Maharashtra government’s Special Task Force exonerated Kapse without even talking to the witnesses. That’s why I wanted a CBI inquiry. But even the CBI has acted in a biased manner.Who should we turn to then?“ Mapkar asked.
In his order, Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Laxmikant A Bidwai upheld the CBI’s argument that despite the incident taking place more than five years ago, no new evidence was forthcoming against Kapse and noted that Mapkar had not filed any `protest application’ against the CBI’s report.
However, Mapkar’s lawyer Vijay Hiremath said he was to make oral arguments, which had been agreed to by the magistrate earlier hearing the case. “This order has been passed but we have not been heard. There’s nothing in the order to show that the magistrate has gone through the entire record. We shall challenge it.“
While Mapkar has lost faith in the police and the CBI, he still believes in the courts. “The lower courts have never done justice to me, but the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court have. I have faith in them.“
September 3, 2016 at 10:43 pm
Mapkar is rightly continuing struggle in the hope of justice though the lower courts did not rule in his favour. When there is clear evidence against sub-inspector and other officials, the CBI should have collected all the evidence and it should have based it’s arguement on the first hand proof by Mapkar.