Koregaon Bhima commission to resume hearing from Nov 15, IPS officer Rashmi Shukla summoned

After Maharashtra government promised the Koregaon Bhima commission a bigger venue to hold its proceedings, the panel has finally released the schedule for their hearing, which is set to begin from November 15.

The two-member commission headed by retired justice J N Patel was formed by the Maharashtra government for probing into the cause of Koregaon Bhima commission violence of January 1, 2018, in which one person was killed and several others were injured. The commission was initially given four months in 2018 to submit its report but its tenure had to be repeatedly extended.

The hearings in the case were mostly being done in Pune until now as some of the witnesses from Pune rural were to be examined. However, the commission, for the ease of those who are deposing before them, had been holding its work at both Pune and Mumbai.

The commission, which was given a temporary space in information department of the Maharashtra government in Mumbai, was finding it difficult to work at the makeshift venue. The panel had, therefore, suspended all its future hearings in Mumbai till the state government arranged a suitable accommodation in the city.

The commission had shot off a letter to the Maharashtra Government last month, stating that in spite of their many communications, “nothing was heard from the government till 31st October, 2021 about availability of suitable accommodation. Therefore, there is no other option before the Commission but to suspend the hearing schedule till the government provides suitable accommodation to the Commission.”

But with the state government providing adequate accommodation in the city, the panel is set to resume hearing.

WHAT’S THE COMMISSION’S SCHEDULE?

The commission had earlier proposed hearing scheduled from November 8-12 in Mumbai. However, with the Sahyadri Guest House at Malabar Hill being given to the commission for holding their meetings, the commission will hold its proceeding from November 15 to November 20.

As per the schedule, IPS officers Rashmi Shukla, Lakhmi Gautam, and retired IPS officer Bipin Bihari, will be deposing while Elgar Parishad organiser Harshali Potdar, who had earlier deposed in Pune, will be cross-examined.

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