How Narendra Dabholkar’s legacy lives on two years after his murder

The law he campaigned for has ensnared self-styled religious leaders and tantriks in Maharashtra and the organisation he founded is thriving. But his murderers are roaming free.



Smruti Koppikar
Today · 09:00 am

Dr Narendra Dabholkar was fatally shot while on his morning walk in Pune two years ago. Yet Dabholkar lives on in many ways.

On Thursday morning, the doctor-turned-rationalist, progressive thinker and anti-superstition campaigner was on the minds of hundreds as they gathered at 7.55 am near the VRS Bridge, the time and place he was killed, to begin a protest march. Shaila Dabholkar, his widow, led the march. Their children Mukta and Hamid were there too. So were others whose near and dear ones were murdered in the last few years, including Smita Pansare, daughter of the late Comrade Govind Pansare, whose killing in February this year was eerily similar to that of Dabholkar.

It was a reminder to the government of Maharashtra, once hailed as a progressive state for its rich tradition of social reformers, progressive thinkers and intellectuals, that two years later, there is not a scrap of information about Dabholkar’s murderers, the masterminds and their motives. It was a comment on the visible lack of seriousness and intent to get to the bottom of this case.

Arrests of babas

Dabholkar lives through the law he inspired. The Maharashtra Eradication of Black Magic, Evil and Aghori Practices Act, 2013, commonly called the Black Magic Act, is quietly at work as it challenges the multi-crore industry spawned by men and women claiming godly or otherworldly powers. Radhe Maa, the self-styled religious leader now under the Mumbai Police scanner, may be a case fit to be tried under the law if only the police invokes its provisions.

http://scroll.in/article/749945/how-narendra-dabholkars-legacy-lives-on-two-years-after-his-murder

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Superstition_and_Black_Magic_Act