BJP leader Sudhir Mungantiwar acquitted in Ghanta Naad case
The Girgaon Magistrate Court has acquitted BJP leader and Maharashtra Forest, Cultural Affairs and Fisheries Minister Sudhir Mungantiwar and seven others who participated in the Ghanta Naad protest near Babulnath temple in 2021.
On Thursday, Magistrate NA Patel acquitted him. The detailed order including reasoning will be made available later.
The BJP had given a call for state-wide Shankh Naad and Ghanta Naad protests against the then Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government’s decision to keep temples and other places of worship closed during the Covid pandemic. In protest, a large number of political and religious activists rang bells and conches outside temples in Mumbai, Pune, Nashik and Nagpur.
During this, prohibitory orders were issued on the gathering of people to prevent the infection of the virus.
Mungantiwar’s lawyer Prakash Salsingikar had said that the prosecution had failed to provide video recording of the protest and no independent witness was brought before the court even though the event took place in a public place. It was bell and agitation, but in the court the prosecution called the protest a conch shell.
The advocate further alleged that the case was registered by the then Mumbai Police Commissioner and Home Minister to falsely implicate the accused persons as they belonged to a rival party.
The investigating officer of the case had admitted during cross-examination that he had not seized the ghanta or shankh (bell or conch shell).
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