RPI chief Ramdas Athawale terms Palghar mob lynching as black spot on humanity

New Delhi: Union Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale on Tuesday (April 21) termed Palghar mob lynching of three people, including two Sadhus as a black spot on humanity. The Union minister said the culprits of this brutal killing should be punished with rigorous execution.

The Republican Party of India (RPI) chief has strongly criticised the last week's lynching incident. On Thursday, two sadhus and their driver were lynched by a mob in Kasa police station limits in neighbouring Palghar district while they were on their way to attend a funeral in Surat in Gujarat amid the lockdown for the coronavirus outbreak.

Maharashtra's BJP chief Chandrakant Patil today demanded removal of Home Minister Anil Deshmukh for his `failure' to avoid the Palghar lynching incident. In a letter to Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray on Tuesday, Patil also referred to an alleged assault on a man at the house of Jitendra Awhad, another NCP member in the state cabinet.

"The chief minister must have been apprised of the incident (of the lynching of three men in Palghar) on the next day after it happened, however, it took Union home minister Amit Shah's phone call and Leader of Opposition Devendra Fadnavis raising his voice to force Thackeray to speak on the issue after four days," Patil said.

Patel further said, "The state has witnessed several criminal incidents such as a person was beaten up at a minister's bungalow while a senior IPS official issued a letter to the family of an accused in financial fraud." 

Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Ajit Pawar today also termed the last week's Palghar lynching incident as a "blot on humanity", saying the guilty will get strict punishment as per the law. 

Ajit Pawar stated that a criminal investigation department (CID) probe is already on into the matter and more than 100 persons have been arrested, adding "The Palghar incident is a blot on humanity, it is condemnable. A CID probe has begun into the incident and more than 100 persons have been arrested. All the guilty will be punished strictly as per law." 

Earlier in the day, NCP chief Sharad Pawar condemned the incident of mob lynching in Palghar saying "Whatever happened in Palghar should not have happened, it is unfortunate and condemnable. Police acted quickly on them and arrested over 100 people involved in the incident on the same night." 

He said, "Some people are talking and raising a question about law and order situation of the State even when the incident occurred due to some roumours...this is not good. We make such comments in normal times but this is not the time to do so. We all collectively need to focus on the fight against corona." 

Meanwhile, Palgarh Police on Sunday arrested 110 people including nine juveniles, in connection with the lynching of three persons by the villagers, suspecting them as thieves. While 101 people have been remanded in police custody till April 30, nine others have been sent to a juvenile home.