Despite claims by the State government of providing information to the Union government with regard to banning the right wing Sanatan Sanstha, it may have actually failed to provide adequate information for the Centre to ban this controversial organisation.
In February 2017, the Union government said in the Bombay High Court that the material provided by the State Government was not sufficient for it to come to a conclusion that the activities of Sanatan Sanstha fall within the scope of the words “terrorist organisation”.
‘Answers provided’
Minister of State for Home Deepak Kesarkar, while speaking to media persons earlier this week, had said that the State has already provided necessary answers to the queries raised by the Centre. Sources in the Home Department told The Hindu that since February 2017 no new information on the organisation has been submitted to the Centre.
Mr. Kesarkar was not available for comments, despite repeated attempts.
The February 2017 submission in court by the Union government came during the hearing of a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) filed by one Vijay Rokade in 2011 seeking ban on the Sanstha. The petitioner, while listing out instances of bomb blasts in Thane’s Gadkari theatre, Vashi, and Madgoan (Goa) had claimed that the organisation is against “sound principles of democratic system”. Quoting from the Sanstha’s literature, the petitioner had contended that it was engaged in overthrowing the Government of India.
The Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad had on August 10 arrested three people, with alleged links to Sanatan Sanstha, from Nallasopara and Pune, and recovered a huge cache of arms and explosives. Their interrogation led to the arrest by Central Bureau of Investigation of one Sachin Andure for his role in the murder of rationalist Dr. Narendra Dabholkar in Pune on August 20, 2013.