Bombay HC shifts Sanatan Sanstha defamation case to Kolhapur from Goa over ‘safety’ issue

The Bombay High Court has transferred five defamation suits filed by Goa-based organisation Sanatan Sanstha against rationalist Hamid Dabholkar, senior journalist Nikhil Wagle, and others from the Ponda Civil Court in Goa to the Civil Judge (Senior Division) in Kolhapur. Justice N.J. Jamadar, delivering the verdict on September 3, observed that the applicants’ apprehensions about their safety and the possibility of receiving a fair trial in Ponda were not only genuine but also grounded in past incidents of violence against rationalists and activists who opposed the organisation’s ideology.

The suits, filed between 2017 and 2018, arose from allegedly defamatory statements made during public events, interviews, and articles linking Sanatan Sanstha and its members to the murders of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar, Govind Pansare, M.M. Kalburgi, and journalist Gauri Lankesh between 2013 and 2017. The Sanstha had alleged that these statements were “false, malicious, and defamatory”, claiming that they caused significant damage to its reputation, and had sought damages running into several crores of rupees.

The applicants, however, contended that standing trial in Ponda, where the organisation is headquartered, would place them under constant threat. They referred to past incidents in which individuals critical of Sanatan Sanstha’s ideology had been targeted and even assassinated. Mr. Hamid Dabholkar, the son of Narendra Dabholkar, argued that he had been provided ‘X’ category police security due to continuous threats. Mr. Wagle, too, stated that he had faced intimidation and calls for violence after he sought a ban on the Sanstha.