Court orders FIR against policemen involved in Maval firing

A month after a farmers' agitation at Maval near Pune turned violent killing three farmers and injuring several others after police fired at them, a local directed the police to lodge a first information report against the policemen.

The directions to Vadgaon police station was issued by the Madgaon-Maval court in response to an application made by Mumbai based activist I G Khandelwal.

The court directed the police to lodge the FIR under section 156 (3) of the criminal procedure code against two police sub-inspectors and six policemen. The police high-handedness was exposed when videos shot by local scribes showed them firing at hapless farmers who were fleeing away from the Mumbai-Pune Expressway which they had blocked.

Bowing to the demands of the opposition in the state legislature, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar announced a probe into the incident by a retired high court judge.

Meanwhile, Balasaheb Jambulkar, former president of Vadgoan-Maval municipal council has already approached the Bombay high court seeking justice for the victims.