Koregaon Bhima Commission summons chiefs of 6 political parties in Maharashtra
India Today
The Koregaon Bhima Commission has summoned the presidents of the six political parties on an application seeking their suggestions to avoid incidents of violence in future.
The Koregaon Bhima Commission, probing the January 2018 violence near a memorial in Maharashtra's Pune district, has summoned the presidents of the six political parties in the state to depose before them.
The commission has summoned the Shiv Sena president, BJP's Maharashtra president and the presidents of Vanchit Bahujan Aaghadi, Maharashtra Navnirman Sena, Republican Party of India (A) and Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee.
The commission issued the summons after it received a letter from its own lawyer, Ashish Satpute.
Satpute in his letter stated that the presence of the above political persons is useful before the commission to suggest short and long-term measures to be taken by the district administration and police to avoid the recurrence of such incidents (the Koregaon Bhima violence that occurred on January 1, 2018), and any other important suggestion incidental to the above issues."Therefore, in the interest of justice, the personal presence of prominent political leaders be directed by way of issuing summons to them," stated Satpute.After receiving Satpute's letter, commission's chairperson, former Chief Justice JN Patel and member, IAS officer Sumit Mullick ordered to issue summons to the presidents to attend the "commission in person or depute a representative on their behalf."
"An affidavit be filed on or before June 30, 2022 in the office of the Commission," the order stated.NCP chief Sharad Pawar had filed two affidavits before the commission and had also recently deposed before the commission and had spoken about the measures he deemed fit to see to it that riots like the one Maharashtra witnessed in January 2018, do not occur again.
The commission was set up in February 2018 after riots had erupted in Bhima Koregaon, and thereafter spread across Maharashtra.
As per the Pune police, violence erupted between caste groups near the war memorial during the bicentennial anniversary of the 1818 battle of Koregaon Bhima on January 1, 2018.
