MUMBAI: In fresh relief to MNS chief Raj Thackeray, the Bombay High Court bench at Aurangabad recently quashed criminal proceedings pending since 2009 in a first information report (FIR) for mischief, unlawful assembly, damage to public property, and other offences against the politician in Parli, Beed district of Maharashtra.
Justices Vibha Kankanwadi and Sanjay Deshmukh, in a March 21 order made available on Friday, said that a perusal of the chargesheet revealed that Thackeray was not part of the unlawful assembly. After hearing his counsel Rajendra Shirodkar and Sayaji Nangre, and the prosecutor G A Kulkarni, the HC said Thackeray “did not pelt stones on the bus causing mischief or damage to the public property.”
The alleged rioting on October 21-22, 2008, involved co-accused members of MNS, the political party that Thackeray heads, the HC noted. The prosecution focused on the offence of abetment against Thackeray. The HC stated, “Actual mischief or damage to the public property cannot be on the basis of abetment, because in the speech there could not have been a specific direction to the party workers or followers that they should go and cause damage to the public property.”
His lack of presence at the site would render a trial an “abuse” of the legal process, the HC held, and quashed the case against Thackeray.