Bombay High Court judge grants bail to 3 for Muslim man's murder, says they were provoked in the name of religion

The Bombay High Court granted bail to three members of the Hindu Rashtra Sena (HRS) for the murder of a 28-year-old Muslim IT professional in Pune in June 2014 saying that the accused were provoked in the name of religion. 

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The family of the deceased have said that they will appeal in the Supreme Court against Justice Mridula Bhatkar's judgement. The Maharashtra government may also challenge the bail granted to the three men. 

"We are not convinced by the ground on which the HC has granted bail to the accused. Is provocative speech permissible for murder of an innocent person from another religion? All three accused were arrested from the murder spot. We have decided to challenge this bail order in Supreme Court," Sadiq Shaikh, father of Mohsin, the deceased, said.

As many as 21 people had been arrested in 2014 for Shaikh's murder of which 14 have been granted bail. 

Justice Mridula Bhatkar observed that "the fault of the deceased was only that he belonged to another religion. I consider this factor in favour of the applicants/accused. More-over, the applicants/accused do not have any criminal record and it appears that in the name of the religion, they were provoked and have committed the murder" in her January 12 order. 

Shaikh was attacked by a group of HRS members while returning after offering prayers in Hadaspar on June 2, 2014. He was with a friend Riyaz Ahmed Mubarak Shendure. Riyaz escaped unhurt.

The HRS members had been enraged after their leader Dhananjay Jayram Desai alias Bhai had provoked them with his hate speech against Muslims following a Facebook post of some derogatory pictures of Chhatrapati Shivaji and Bal Thackeray. 

While granting bail to Vijay Rajendra Gambhire, Ganesh alias Ranjeet Shankar Yadav and Ajay Dilip Lalge, the judge said the accused had attended a meeting "prior to the incident of assault. The applicants/accused otherwise had no other motive such as any personal enmity against the innocent deceased Mohsin".

"...Dhananjay Desai was the one who was the speaker in the meeting and he instigated the audience... the transcript of the speech given by Dhananjay Desai was sufficient to show that he had incited feelings of religious discrimination. The meet was held... prior to the incident of assault," the January 12 order stated. 

According the the police chargesheet, two witnesses had seen and heard the HRS members gathered at Gondhale Mala in Hadapsar around 8.30 pm on June 2, 2014.

"The activists were carrying hockey sticks, wooden batons etc. During the meeting, they started discussing that HRS president Dhananjay Bhai has said that Muslims should be thrashed for posting derogatory pictures of Shivaji Maharaj on Facebook. Their vehicles, shops should be damaged. They should not be allowed to do any business in the area. There should be terror of HRS in Hadapsar," the chargesheet stated.