Tushar Damgude Moves SC to be Made Party to Thapar's Petition

On Tuesday, the complainant in the First Information Report (FIR), which led to the arrests in June and August, Tushar Damgude, moved the Supreme Court to make him a party to the proceedings initiated by Romila Thapar and four others. Damgude's FIR allegedly did not mention a Maoist link. However, in June the Pune police arrested Surendra Gadling, Rona Wilson, Sudhir Dhawale, Shoma Sen and Mahesh Raut alleging that they were Maoists. Then in August, they attempted to arrest Vernon Gonsalves, Arun Ferreira, Varavara Rao, Sudha Bharadwaj and Gautam Navlakha on the same grounds.

Also Read: Arrests of Activists: Why Pune Police Is Aggressively Pursuing Tushar Damgude’s FIR

Interestingly, Damgude's application came two days after the Bombay High Court castigated the Pune police for holding a press meet on August 31. At the press meet, the Additional Director General of Police (ADG) Param Bir Singh read out the contents of an alleged letter that established the Maoist plot. However, prior to this press meet, the same police force had requested the Court to hold the proceedings in camera meaning that the public should not know what was being discussed or presented. It was this lack of discretion on the part of the ADG that led to the Court's adverse remarks.

Also Read: Trial By Media: Pune Police Read Out 'Evidence' Not Yet Proved In Court

The Court passed the remarks following a criminal writ petition filed by Satish Sugriv Gaikwad. Gaikwad's petition prayed for directions to be issued to transfer the investigation of Damgude's FIR to the National Investigation Agency (NIA). He also prayed for action to be initiated against the investigation officer, Additional Commissioner of Police Shivaji Pawar.