Pune Sessions Court acquitted 20 men, including the president of the Hindu Rashtra Sena, accused of killing a young IT professional named Mohsin Shaikh in 2014

The Sessions Court in Pune has acquitted 20 men, including the president of the Hindu Rashtra Sena, who was accused of killing a young IT professional named Mohsin Shaikh during communal riots in 2014. The judge cited a lack of evidence as the reason for the acquittal. A detailed copy of the order has not yet been made available.

In June 2014, Mohsin Shaikh, a 22-year-old IT professional, was brutally attacked and killed by 23 people, including two juveniles, while returning home from a mosque. The attack resulted from riots in Pune following the posting of offensive content on social media against Shivaji Maharaj and other Hindu deities.

The case has been in the spotlight due to the appointment of a special prosecutor and a controversial bail order from the Bombay High Court. Initially, advocate Ujjwal Nikam was appointed as the special public prosecutor (SPP) in the case, but he stepped down without giving a reason. The family of Mohsin Shaikh then sought the appointment of advocate Rohini Salian as the SPP, but the State government appointed Ujwala Pawar instead.

It is worth noting that the case has also been controversial due to observations made by Justice Mridula Bhatkar of the Bombay High Court while granting bail to the three accused in the case. Her statement in the bail order that the victim's only fault was that he belonged to a "different religion" and that the accused did not have any criminal history except that they were "provoked in the name of religion" was widely criticized.

This order was later quashed by the Supreme Court bench led by Justice Sharad Bobde, stating that "religion can be no ground to commit murder." The Supreme Court directed Justice Bhatkar to decide the bail matters again. Ultimately, the accused were granted bail.