mangalore today

A hapless father’s quest for justice


Mangalore Today News Network

By Prof. Narendra Nayak
Mangaluru, Dec 17, 2016:
Having lost his only son,  the slain RTI activist Vinayak Baliga by a cruel, ghastly murder allegedly through a conspiracy by vested interests to silence him, the 85 year old Mr. Ramachandra Baliga continues his fight for justice. With his two unmarried daughters by his side he went today to serve the dasti notice of the Supreme court on accused no. 1 Naresh Shenoy as to why his bail should not be cancelled.  He had to recourse to this as the due procedure of the court to serve the notice could take months and the hearing in this emergent matter is scheduled for 30 days after the receipt of the notice by the opposite party. In such murder cases bail is not usually granted but one has every reason to suspect that the powerful political connections behind him have helped matters. The investigations too seem to have come to a dead end and the additional charge sheet is yet to be filed. Like in the Shahabuddin  case where political connections have resulted in him getting bail which was later cancelled by the supreme court, now recourse to this apex body seems to be a succor for the helpless victims of the system.


vinayak baliga case 1


Again, while the prime accused claims innocence he has been steadfastedly refusing to subject himself to narco analysis which gives rise to the suspicion as to why who is innocent would object to an investigation which is aimed to find out the truth. While evidence gathered during narco analysis cannot be used in a court of law it can certainly shed light on the investigations and can help in collection of further evidence. Is it this fear  that is making him recourse to refusal for this test? While hie contentions have been upheld by the lower courts Baliga has now approached the High court of Karnataka in his quest for justice and notice has been already issued to the accused no 1, Naresh Shenoy.  The counsel for Mr. Baliga has argued that if the accused has apprehensions about the misuse of the procedure, the same can be conducted in the presence of a judicial magistrate and the procedure videographed to ensure that the questioning will be confined only to the circumstances of the Vinayak Baliga murder case.

While the admission of the case by the Supreme court raises hopes that justice will be done, the investigations by the police too shall hopefully pick up to get justice for the victim. We do hope that the commissioner of police Mr. Chandrashekar who is well known for his upright and no nonsense approach shall continue his supervision of the investigations which have come so far only because of him, that the full conspiracy behind the murder, the non availability of certain crucial evidence which is said to have been the cause for the murder, the details of the conspiracy and the logistics of the support for the prime accused when he was on the run from the police for nearly three months shall all be brought to light in the additional charge sheet.

Struggling for breath Mr. Ramachandra Baliga had his last words as I was leaving him- he said Narendra-  do you think I will be alive to see justice done for my son? Vinayak Baliga’s mother to repeated the same with tears rolling down her eyes- the tears of a mother who saw her son being cruelly hacked to death just outside her home. Well yours truly feels that neither the society nor he has an answer. But, Mr. Baliga continues his struggle as he believes that the though the wheels of justice grind slow they grind fine and that one day justice shall be done whether he is physically there to observe it.Baliga’s four daughters-one elder and three younger to the slain activist Vinayak Baliga are now firmly behind their parents and want to see justice done to their brother at least during their life time.

 


Prof. Narendra Nayak is an internationally renowned rationalist and consumer activist. He is the incumbent President of Federation of Indian Rationalists Associations (FIRA). Through his famous myth busting crusade of over three decades, he has been relentlessly fighting against the culture of superstition in society and the exploitation of the gullible in the name of religion, while at the same time advocating the nurture of scientific temper and humanism among the masses. He can be reached at: narenyen@gmail.com