Banning Sanatan Sanstha may not be easy

Banning the Sanatan Sanstha with immediate effect may not be possible. Even if willing, the government may need more time and a fool-proof case against the right wing organisation to get the job done without any legal hitch.

Minister of State for Home Dipak Kesarkar has told mediapersons that the process is time-consuming. "Any government that wishes to ban a particular organisation for unlawful activities needs to prepare fully in terms of legal eventualities, because the organisation in question will be given an opportunity to challenge the ban, if any, in court," he said.

He said the state has some information that supports the demand for banning Sanatan Sanstha, but that itself was not enough to get the proposal through to the Union Government. He said additional information was being sought to strengthen the recommendation.

It may be mentioned here that the previous government headed by Prithviraj Chavan had recommended a ban on Sanatan Sanstha in 2011. And, that was before rationalist Dr Narendra Dabholkar was killed. In 2013, the Centre had asked for some more information, which was supplied in 2015, said Kesarkar. The minister said the Maharashtra government has again reminded the Centre of its recommendation. In New Delhi, Union Minister of State for Home Hansraj Ahir said he did not know much about the proposal.

Former CM Prithviraj Chavan told mid-day that there were many misgivings about his government taking action against Sanatan Sanstha. He said his government had proposed the ban after the Sanstha's associates were sent to 14 years for a bomb blast in 2008 in Thane. "Later, the ATS worked hard and consistently to submit a report to the government, explaining why banning the Sanatan Sanstha was required. Considering the history of the organisation, evidence and ATS report, we sent the Centre our final 1,000-page recommendation on April 11, 2011," Chavan said.

He said the proposal was sent much before Dr Dabholkar was gunned down. "So, it is pertinent to understand that the recommended ban wasn't a temporary reaction to any contemporary act of terror. On the other hand, it was a work that the Cong-NCP government initiated and submitted before the then union home minister P Chidambaram. He said the state and Centre had maintained their stand before the Bombay HC in a PIL that had also asked for a ban on Sanatan Sanstha.

A senior leader from Maharashtra, Sushilkumar Shinde, who had replaced Chidambaram as union home minister, is consistently accused of ignoring the proposal. He has denied the charge saying the matter was never brought to his notice either by Prithviraj Chavan or his own ministry.

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