The Bombay High Court on Thursday disposed of a plea filed by BJP legislator Chitra Wagh, seeking registration of a case into the death of a woman, allegedly linked to Maharashtra minister Sanjay Rathod. Wagh filed the plea in 2021 when her party was in the opposition in the state.
In 2021, when the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) led by Shiv Sena chief Uddhav Thackeray, was in power in Maharashtra, Rathod was heading the forest department at that time. However, after his name surfaced in a case wherein a tribal woman from Pune allegedly committed suicide, he had to step down.
The bench headed by Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and also comprising Justice Bharati Dangre, noted that the grievances raised by Wagh did not survive for consideration as a magistrate court had already closed the case. The state police had submitted an inquiry report before the magistrate concluding that the woman’s death had occurred either on account of suicide or by accident.
An officer representing the Pune police had filed an affidavit too before the High Court, stating that the police had inquired into the incident and found that the woman was under the influence of alcohol and fell from a balcony, and therefore, the incident was caused by way of accident. The police also submitted a medical report to support their submissions.
Advocate General Birendra Saraf, appearing for the state government, submitted on Thursday that the requisite action under the law had been taken by the police and sought disposal of the PIL.
Senior advocate Pranav Badheka, representing the woman’s father, said that the family did not want to press any charges against anyone. Badheka stressed that the petition had been filed with a political motive, but the family just wanted closure now.
The bench noted that after the police filed a closure report before the magistrate, two people claiming to be activists had approached the magistrate with petitions filed under Section 156 (3) (investigation ordered by magistrate) of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC). But the magistrate closed the case and rejected the petitions.
The bench finally, in its order said, “In view of the submissions, police report and magistrate orders, no further orders are required to be passed, and the same be accordingly disposed of”.
During an earlier hearing, the bench had come down heavily on Wagh for filing such petition and then choosing to withdraw it later.
