Political parties have been demanding a ban to be imposed on Sanatan Sanstha and declare the outfit as unlawful. Despite this the state government has failed to take any action against the outfit. Earlier even Goa Congress had called for ban on the organisation and mentioned about its role in the assassination of rationalist Narendra Dabholkar. The CBI had arrested Sanatan Sanstha activist Virendra Tawde in connection with the murder of Dabholkar. Also another activist Sameer Gaikwad was arrested for his alleged role in the murder of CPI leader Govind Pansare.
In the year 2012, the state Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) had filed an affidavit for declaring the organisation as unlawful under section 3 of the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act. Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said that the government would take action against Sanatan Sanstha if any concrete evidence is found against the organisation in October 2015.
Sanatan Sanstha was established in 1980 and is registered as a charitable trust in Goa. The activities of the organisation have come under scanner for some time now. Its members have been involved in various anti-social activities. The members of the outfit were arrested in 2008 for planting a crude bomb during the screening of a Marathi play.
Congress spokesperson Sachin Sawant has made a demand to ban Sanatan Sanstha. Sawant said, “Since the BJP government has assumed the power the communal forces have become active. In the name of religion open vandalism is adopted by these organisations. Now this is high time to ban Sanathan Sanstha so the government can curb their activities”.
Former Maharashtra Minority Affairs Minister Arif Mohammad Naseem Khan, also demanded that the state government ban the Sanatan Sanstha. He said, “The Sanatan Sanstha has been indulging in terror activities for quite sometime and the then Special IG Hemant Karkare who was subsequently was killed in the 26/11 Mumbai terror attack had exposed this organisation.”
On the other hand, Sanatan Sanstha has claimed that the allegations made against its activists are baseless and they are being framed. Innocent activists have been arrested and are being persecuted merely due to pressure exerted by the progressive elements. To oppose this, all patriotic and devout Hindu organisations had held a protest march on Sunday at Dadar.
“Eleven months have passed since Samir Gaikwad, was arrested in connection with the killing of Govind Pansare. A chargesheet has been filed, but various obstacles are created in further proceedings of the case; thus denying him of natural justice,” said Abhay Vartak.
“We are demanding to stop the persecution of innocent seekers of Sanatan Sanstha and investigate thoroughly whether the killing of Dabholkar was due to financial scams in Dabholkar’s Trust and huge fund received illegally from foreign countries. We will raise all this issues with the Government,” he added.
“Since CBI has failed to apprehend the real culprit in the killing of Narendra Dabholkar, Dr. Virendra Tawade has been arrested, and now, the case against him is being framed with the help of a fake witness,” said Vaibhav Raut leader of Hindu Gou-vansh Raksha Samiti.
“Instead of effecting a ‘Court trial’, a ‘Media trial’ is being run. The investigating agencies and Dabholkar-Pansare family members are more interested in defaming Hindus; even, the High Court has admonished them in this regard,” he added.
