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INDIA BUSINESS WORLD - NOVEMBER 1st – NOVEMBER 15th 2008
MAHARASHTRA CM GETS SUPREME COURT NOTICE ON HATE ATTACKS
THE Supreme Court sought an explanation from the Vilasrao Deshmukh-led government on steps being taken to protect the life and property of non-Marathis in the state.
A bench comprising Chief Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justice P Sathasivam and Justice J M Panchal issued the notice on protecting non-Marathis on a PIL that alleged that MNS attacks on non-Marathis in the state went unheeded.
The court stepped in after hearing the plea that the state police remained a mute spectator when two north Indian doctor brothers — Ajay Dubey (35) and Vijay Dubey (33) — were recently killed by a mob on provocation by Raj Thackeray.
The bench, however, refused to entertain another PIL which had sought a judicial inquiry into the killing of Patna youth Rahul Raj in a controversial police encounter and killing of another migrant from UP in Mumbai train last month.
The court also did not pass any direction against the home ministry though the petitioner claimed that there was a ‘constitutional crisis' in the state and the Centre remained a ‘spectator without preferring to exercise its power' under Article 355 of the Constitution. Appearing for petitioner Salek Chand Jain, advocate Sugriva Dubey said that Tamils and Bhojpuri people were being segregated and thrown out from local trains in Mumbai. "The state of Maharashtra is silent when cinema halls showing Bhojpuri films from Thane to Mumbai are increasingly becoming targets of sectarian violence aimed at migrants of Bihar and eastern UP," said Jain in his petition.
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