NAVI MUMBAI: The vandalism charge did not hold. On Tuesday, a court acquitted all 12 activists booked during a student protest at Tilak Engineering College in Koparkhairane, ending a case that ran 15 years.
The protest was held in 2011, over students' rights and the difficulties they faced with scholarships and the admission process. It was organised by the Bahujan Vidyarthi Parishad of the Republican Party. After the agitation, the college was allegedly vandalised and a case was registered against 12 workers.
On Tuesday, the court cleared all of them. Those acquitted include Dr Sandeep Maiknar, Sanket Doke, Sachin Katare, advocate Jay Gaikwad, Rakesh Ovhal, Sunil Kachre, Ramrao Bodhde, Suraj Sarvade, Pritesh Bhagat, Vikram Gaikwad, Mukesh Jadhav and Bijesh Vaidya.
The verdict followed a long legal process. The 12 had been arrested on charges of vandalism after the protest at the engineering college, and the matter stayed in court for years. The allegation of damage to college property was on record; in the end, the court did not hold the 12 workers guilty of it.
What began over scholarships and admissions ended in a courtroom. The Bahujan Vidyarthi Parishad, the Republican Party's student wing, had led the agitation over the same two issues.
Fifteen years on, all twelve walked free.