Women activists slammed the tradition of prohibiting entry to the fairer sex at a famous Shani shrine in Ahmednagar district and the “purification rituals” which were performed by villagers after a woman recently entered there.

On Saturday, the age-old practice of prohibiting women from offering prayers at the shrine located in Shani Shingnapur village was “breached” when a woman climbed the security barricade to the ‘chauthara’ (platform) where the idol is installed and offered prayers, before disappearing in the crowd.

Yesterday, the villagers had performed a ‘dudh abhishek’ (milk purification) of the idol and observed a ‘bandh’ in the morning to protest the incident. Startled, the temple committee also swung into action today and suspended seven security personnel.

Terming the incident as “ridiculous”, Maharashtra’s former Additional Chief Secretary (Home) Chandra Iyengar said, “God has created everyone equal and who are we to force anyone to follow specific process of offering devotion or faith. At least God never said so that a woman, even if she is menstruating, cannot enter a temple.”

She said that since religious faith of a person is a specific and a crucial issue, hence government cannot interfere in such cases as it has to follow the law of the land (administration of the religious places).

However, if these rules are made by human beings only, then it is time to rethink them, the former bureaucrat said.

“It is my firm belief that God has not provisioned such discrimination…we should not forget that there are ample number of women who also support such belief (of prohibiting women from entering temples),” she said.

Notably, a huge controversy had broken out in 2006 after Kannada actress Jayamala claimed to have entered the Sabarimala temple in Kerala during her prime and touched the idol of the presiding deity, claiming that she was pushed into the sanctum sanctorum by the surging crowd.

The Bombay High Court on Monday dismissed an application filed by actor Salman Khan, sentenced to five-year jail term in the 2002 hit-and-run case, seeking examination of his friend and singer Kamaal Khan as a witness by the prosecution.

Salman Khan had on November 16 filed the application before Justice A R Joshi who is hearing the actor’s appeal against the conviction and sentence handed over to him by a sessions court in connection with the case. Under section 391 of Criminal Procedure Code, the high court can summon a witness while hearing an appeal “if it thinks additional evidence to be necessary”.

Justice Joshi today, however, refused to summon Kamaal and said “recourse to section 391 is taken only in special cases where circumstances specially warrant it. There is nothing in the present case to entertain the application filed by the appellant (Salman) and summon Kamaal Khan.” “There is nothing to show that but for the substantial evidence of Kamaal Khan no decision can be taken in the appeal. If there is no dire need for the examination of Kamaal Khan and if the material available can be analysed in itself, then in the considered view of this court recourse to section 391 is not the ultimate requirement,” Justice Joshi said.

The Court also took note of the fact that when the prosecution told the sessions court during examination of all its witnesses that Kamaal Khan could not be traced, Salman did not take any step at that stage.

“The appellant (Salman) chose to call Ashok Singh as defence witness at the fag end of the trial before the sessions court. He (Salman), however, did not take any steps to call Kamaal Khan as defence witness,” the court said.

Kamaal Khan, who according to the prosecution and defence was present in the car prior to and at the time of the accident in September 2002, had not appeared before the magistrate court for recording his evidence. Only his statement was recorded by the police in 2002 under section 161 of CrPC. Justice Joshi said he would continue hearing arguments of the prosecution in the appeal filed by Salman from Tuesday.

Senior counsel Amit Desai, appearing for Salman, sought a copy of the order passed by the court today, hinting that they would approach the Supreme Court. “Why the prosecution had not examined this witness in the trial court?… Kamaal Khan is the best eyewitness available to the prosecution as he was present in Salman’s car on September 28, 2002, when it rammed into a shop in Bandra killing one person and injuring four others,” Desai had argued.

The Bombay High Court upheld the life sentences awarded to 23 people for murdering three persons in Roha in neighbouring Raigad district in 2004 on account of political rivalry.

The division bench, headed by acting Chief Justice V K Tahilramani, dismissed their appeals challenging a 2005 order of the sessions court, noting that the prosecution had proven its case beyond reasonable doubt.

Three of the convicts are in jail while the others are out on bail. The High Court today cancelled their bail bonds and directed them to surrender before a court in Alibag.

Additional public prosecutor Hitendra Dedhia said the court accepted the prosecution’s case that the convicts had attacked Shadeo Navashe, Shivram Omale and Umaji Omale with sharp weapons in 2004.

The accused, who were with NCP, held a grudge against the victims who had left the party to join the Peasants and Workers Party (PWP).

The prosecution had examined 12 witnesses during the trial.

Asserting that digital intervention will help increase efficiency in policing, Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Monday said the Mumbai city surveillance project of installation of over 6,000 CCTVs would be completed before the 26/11 terror attacks anniversary next year.

Addressing a gathering after launching the first phase of the project covering south Mumbai – from Colaba to Worli – where 1,381 cameras have been installed, he said the CCTV network would boost crime prevention, early response, detection, prosecution and conviction.

“After all three phases of the project are completed, there will be 100 per cent command and control system integration. With the data integration, we will be able to evolve a comprehensive strategy to tackle crime,” he said.

The entire project to install CCTVs at all the crucial places in the city is expected to cost around Rs. 949 crore.

“My government’s endeavour is to ensure optimum use of manpower with technological intervention for effective policing. We plan to complete all the three phases before the October 2016 deadline. By next year’s 26/11 anniversary, the entire city of Mumbai would be under digital camera surveillance,” he said.

“At present, the effort worldwide is to create smart cities. An integral part of a smart city is that it should be safe. If a city is not safe, it cannot be smart,” he said.

Fadnavis said challenges regarding security measures are enormous and it is impossible to tackle them only with manpower. “Technological intervention is necessary,” he said.

Stating that all important cities in the state would be brought under digital surveillance, Fadnavis informed that Pune is the first city to be under CCTV network. The digital surveillance in Nashik would be upgraded from the system used for the Nashik Kumbh. Steps are being taken to install the CCTV network in Nagpur as well.

The Chief Minister said that face detection, number plate identification and data analysis system facilities would be available after the entire project is completed.

Admitting that were delays earlier in implementation of the CCTV network, despite best efforts, Fadnavis, however, said that L&T, which was given the contract in February 2015, was able to complete the first phase in the stipulated time. He said the data feed from the CCTVs would be sent to Mumbai Police headquarters and traffic police headquarters at Worli command centre.

Chief Secretary Swadheen Kshatriya said a high-powered committee set up earlier under the CS could not take a decision regarding the project despite being given all powers by the government.

“But I am happy that after I took over, we were able to take some decisions to ensure that the CCTV network sees the light of the day,” he said.

Family members of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar on Monday questioned CBI’s “lack” of progress in the case related to his murder, pointing out how quickly the agency had moved in the high-profile Sheena Bora murder case.

The division bench of Justices RV More and VL Achiliya was hearing petitions filed by the respective family members of Dabholkar and the Communist leader, fellow rationalist Govind Pansare who was murdered in February this year.

The petitions seek supervision of the investigations by CBI and state CID in Dabholkar and Pansare murder cases respectively.

“Maharashtra government handed over to CBI the Sheena Bora murder case and within the 60-day period CBI filed a voluminous charge sheet. But in the Dabholkar case till date nothing has been done. Either CBI is lethargic or there is some political pressure,” advocate Abhay Nevgi, appearing for Dabholkar family, contended.

When the court had asked CBI to take over the probe in Dabholkar case, the agency claimed it had no manpower but for Sheena Bora case it formed six teams which were sent to Kolkata, Bhopal, Delhi, etc., he said.

CBI counsel Rebecca Gonsalves submitted to the HC that a progress report in Dabholkar case in a sealed envelope. “In the last four weeks, we have recorded statements of 91 persons. We have visited the ashram of Sanathan Sanstha and also recorded the statement of its spokesperson,” she said.

The court, after going through the report, said the agency was doing its best.

The judges, however, expressed dissatisfaction with the probe by CID in the Pansare case. “Unfortunately, in both the cases, the culprits are still at large,” they noted.

The court directed both the investigating agencies to submit fresh progress reports on January 7. “The CBI probe report shall be filed by Joint Director Neena Singh who is supervising the case,” the court said.

CBI is expected to receive information from Interpol on the details of an account opened by Indrani Mukerjea, prime accused in Sheena Bora murder case,in a bank in Hong Kong.

CBI informed this in a court here where it produced Indrani’s husband and former media baron Peter Mukerjea and got his custody extended by one more day.

CBI’s counsel Bharat Badami told magistrate R V Adone that the Interpol information on the bank account opened by Indrani in Hong Kong is likely to be received by this evening or tomorrow morning.

Seeking extension of Peter’s custody, CBI told the court that it needs to ascertain if he had made any ‘deceptive reply’ during the polygraph test conducted on him on Saturday and Sunday.

“The custody (of Peter) is required to ascertain his version on the point of deceptive reply, if any, during the polygraph test and also to ascertain other relevant facts”, CBI said in its remand report.

Peter, 59, husband of Indrani, was arrested on November 19 for his alleged role in the sensational murder case and has been in CBI custody since then.

He was on Friday taken to Delhi by CBI for conducting a polygraph test on him and brought back to Mumbai today.

“The custody of the accused is extended till December 1,” metropolitan magistrate R V Adone said.

The probe agency also told the court that the report of polygraph test is likely to come by tomorrow.

Sheena (24) was allegedly strangled in a car and then her body burnt and dumped in a forest in Raigad, about 84km from Mumbai.

Indrani (43), her former husband Sanjeev Khanna and her ex-driver Shyamvar Rai have been chargesheeted in the murder case. The victim was Indrani’s daughter from an earlier marriage.

The CBI counsel also told the court that Peter has been confronted with many documents and transactions and an “investigation is necessary as the case is at a very crucial stage”.

He said that from the financial transactions, it was revealed that a major portion of money was given to Vidhie (daughter of Indrani and Sanjeev Khanna) and some portion was also given to Sheena Bora, Indrani’s daughter by an earlier relationship.

CBI, while maintaining that financial transaction was the motive behind the murder of 24-year-old Bora, had earlier said that Peter, during his interrogation, disclosed investments of crores of rupees made by him and Indrani.

Meanwhile, Peter was heard saying a CBI officer, during the hearing, that “hold me as long as you want but I am not guilty of anything.”