Himani Savarkar offers free legal aid to blast suspects

PUNE: Himani Savarkar, president of the Abhinav Bharat and the Hindu Mahasabha, said on Tuesday that she would provide free legal aid to all the Abhinav Bharat members who were arrested by the state ATS which is investigating the Malegaon bomb blast case.
Speaking to TOI here she said: "As the national president of Abhinav Bharat it is my duty to help members who are in the custody of state ATS."
Savarkar said, "Though the charges against the suspects are yet to be proved, the Malegaon blast should be viewed as a reaction against the unending terrorist activities in the country."
Savarkar confirmed that those arrested by state ATS - Major (retd) Ramesh Upadhyay, Sameer Kulkarni and Ajay Rahirkar - had connection with the Abhinav Bharat.However, she added that "Except for Sameer Kulkarni, I don't know much about others."
Himani is the daughter-in-law of freedom fighter Vinayak Damodar Savarkar's brother. Savarkar had set up Abhinav Bharat in 1904 for an armed struggle against the British government. After the independence, the organisation was dissolved in 1952.
Himani Savarkar started working with the Abhinav Bharat (which is currently an unregistered organisation) in 2006. She claimed that she became the national president of the Abhinav Bharat eight months ago. "The main motto of the organisation is to oppose anti-national activities and to redress the injustice meted out to the majority community. The organisation does not support terrorism," Savarkar said.
She said, "I will provide legal aid to all the suspects who have connection with the Abhinav Bharat. The ATS has arrested one Rakesh Dhawade. I don't know who he is and why he was arrested, but I will help to him too. I am glad that the Shiv Sena also came forward to help them."
She added that, except for Gujarat , the state governments were not in favour of wiping out terrorism from the country.