SC Laments Society's Deteriorating Character, Says Truth No Longer Defended

Due to deteriorating character of society, people nowadays are not ready to stand for truth, the Supreme Court has observed as it asked the Maharashtra government why it was relying on a large number of witnesses for oral testimony in the 2017 Bhiwandi corporator murder case.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and N Kotiswar Singh was hearing a bail plea of Prashant Bhaskar Mahatre, the alleged main conspirator in the Congress corporator murder case.

The bench directed the state's counsel to furnish a list of crucial witnesses which it plans to examine to bring home the conviction of the accused in the case.

"Due to the deteriorating character of society, people nowadays are not ready to stand for truth. Why are you relying on the testimonies of so many witnesses? Yes, there is a threat of gangsters pressuring the witnesses, who later turn hostile as unfortunately there is no witness protection programme in this country," the bench said after the state government's counsel submitted that they need to examine 75 witnesses out of the 200 they have stated in the chargesheet.

The bench said it will fix a time-line for speedy completion of trial once the state government furnishes a list of crucial witnesses in the case.

The state government's counsel said that during the hearing of bail petition by the Bombay High Court, the prosecution has examined 14 witnesses out of which 10 have turned hostile.

The bench asked the counsel about the criminal antecedents of Mahatre to which he submitted that the accused was booked in over dozen cases.

Counsel for Mahatre submitted that he was acquitted in several cases lodged against him and urged the court to grant him bail as he has been in jail since 2017.

"Don't expect a miracle from here. We just wanted your trial to be expedited. We want the society to be in peace. If you come out of jail, a lot of people will get sleepless nights," the bench told Mahatre's counsel.

Justice Kant said that the court was not monitoring the case in technical terms but supervising it, so that trial is expedited in the case.

The Bombay High Court dismissed Mahatre's bail plea on February 7 saying, "...the confessional statements of all the accused persons do indicate that the said applicant could be said to be the main conspirator in the present case." It had referred to a statement of Mahatre’s driver that said he, being the cousin of the victim, had a long standing political rivalry with him and that even on an earlier occasion, the said applicant along with others had assaulted the victim in 2013.

The high court said, "...the material on record does make out a prima facie case against the applicant as being the main conspirator, who motivated the other accused persons to join him, in order to launch a brutal assault on the victim, which resulted in his death. Therefore, this Court does not find any merit in the application filed by the applicant - accused No.10 and accordingly, it is dismissed." According to the FIR, victim Manoj Mahatre, a corporator of Bhiwandi from Congress party for three times at Bhiwandi-Nizampur Municipal Corporation, was brutally assaulted on February 14, 2017 by firearm as well as sickles and choppers, grievously injuring him at the spot of the incident.

The FIR lodged by Manoj's driver stated that after the assault, the accused persons fled the spot and some of them escaped in a Swift car, waiting outside to help them escape.

Police later arrested the victim's cousin, Prashant Bhaskar Mahatre, and seven others in the case.