Court discharges 185 farmers in Maval firing case
Pune (Maha), Nov 26 : A court here in Maharashtra has discharged 185 farmers facing trial in the 2011 Maval firing case, allowing the state government's application seeking withdrawal of the case filed against the cultivators.
Three farmers, including a woman, were killed in the police firing and 16 farmers had received injuries during the agitation on August 9, 2011 in Maval tehsil of the district.
Additional Sessions Judge S N Sonawane on November 22 allowed the state government's application to withdraw the case and discharged 185 cultivators who were booked under various Indian Penal Code sections, including attempt to murder and rioting.
The judge in his order said, "After perusal of the charge sheet, it appears that there is substance in the submission (by state government) that no fruitful result will come out of the trial...and there are no specific allegations of any overt act against the accused."
The judge said the farmers' intention was that water in their village, over which they have more right than others, should not be given to Pune city and if it is done, they would face problem of drinking water and for agricultural needs.
It is clear from the circumstances and statements of the witnesses as well as the First Information Report (FIR) that "there was no intention, motive or conspiracy among the farmers to kill police personnel," he noted.
"Considering all these facts and circumstances, the Maharashtra government has decided to withdraw the case and its application deserves to be allowed," the judge said.
On August 9, 2011, police had opened fire at villagers protesting against the government's decision to lay a closed pipeline to supply water from the Pavna dam in Maval to the limits of Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, located on the city's outskirts.
Agriculturists had claimed that they would not get water for their crops if the closed pipeline was laid.
After the incident, the then Superintendent of Police Sandip Karnik was transferred and an inquiry commission was set up to probe the firing.
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Two injuries, one DNF, a DQ as India end messy World Relays campaign
Gaborone (Botswana) (PTI): Amoj Jacob and Ragul Kumar got injured during the men's 4x400m and 4x100 races respectively as India ended their World Athletics Relays campaign in disappointment on the second day of competitions here on Sunday.
The Indian camp had high hopes of making the 2027 World Championships in the men's 4x400m relay but the team did not finish (DNF) the race as Jacob suffered cramps and pulled out of the race after taking the baton from the first leg runner Dharamveer Choudhary. Rajesh Ramesh and Vishal TK were to run in the third and fourth legs.
Those teams which could not qualify for the 2027 Beijing World Championships by reaching the final round of each of the six relay events on Saturday were given another chance in the second qualification round on Sunday.
The top two teams in each of the two heats (in all six relay events) booked the Beijing ticket on Sunday.
India will now have to try and qualify for the World Championships through the Top Lists of the World Athletics, which is a long and tedious process.
In the men's 4x100m race, third leg runner Ragul Kumar fell down the track after failing to hand over the baton inside the exchange zone to fourth leg runner Gurindervir Singh, which clearly showed the lack of coordination among the runners.
Harsh Santosh Raut and Animesh Kujur ran the first two legs.
The Indian quartet was disqualified and Kumar was seen being taken away from the Field of Play with the help of the volunteers.
It was a comedy of errors in the case of the women's 4x100m race, which saw the baton being dropped during an exchange between first leg runner Tamanna and second runner Nithya Gandhe, though the Indians finished the race in 53.09 seconds.
Gandhe started running quite a distance, but after realising that the baton was not in her hand, she turned and ran back to pick it up.
The only silver-lining for the Indian contingent was the national record time in the mixed 4x100m relay race, though the quartet of Ragul Kumar, Nithya Gandhe, Animesh Kujur and Sneha SS finished sixth in heat number two with a time of 41.35 seconds, bettering the previous national mark of 42.30 seconds set in March in Chandigarh.
The mixed 4x400m relay quartet of Theerthesh P Shetty, Kumari Saloni, Nihal William and Rashdeep Kaur ended at fifth in heat number one with a time of 3 minutes and 19.40 seconds.
On Saturday, all the five Indian relay teams had failed to make it to the respective final rounds and thus missed out on the 2027 World Championships berths.
