VADODARA: By setting the head office of
MS University
on fire out of ‘frustration’,
artist Chandra Mohan
has got himself booked in a case of attempt to murder and damaging public property. However, his earlier case of allegedly hurting religious sentiments has not made any progress.
After the ruckus at the university’s fine arts faculty in May 2007,
Chandra Mohan was booked under section 153(A) of the Indian Penal Code, which deals with hurting religious sentiments, at Sayajigunj police station. The police filed the chargesheet two years after the offence was registered. However, in past eight years, the trial of the case has hardly moved forward.
Even as the case got registered in 2009, the trial began in June 2016. “The delay in
submission of chargesheet
was mainly due to politics,” said Chandra Mohan’s lawyer
Chetan Parmar. From first day of hearing, new dates are being granted by the court as neither Chandra Mohan nor anyone from the state remained present. When the first hearing could take place on November 30 last year and Parmar appeared for the artist, the judge had been transferred. In fact, in all these years the case was transferred thrice between courts.
“After I got to represent him in the case, I tried to find out about the case through police and court because there were no case papers available from 2007,” Parmar added.
He also said that Chandra Mohan never came to know about the beginning of the trial. “We are not aware whether a summons was issued to Chandra Mohan by the court because he has changed addresses over the years sensing threat to his life,” said Parmar, adding that Chandra Mohan has hopes that the case will now get resolved. The case is now listed for hearing on March 30.
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