MUMBAI: The Maharashtra government will appeal against the acquittal of the accused in the murder case of Dalit boy Nitin Aage in Ahmednagar district.
In a statement issued here today, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said the government will also challenge in the Bombay High Court the Ahmednagar sessions court's judgment acquitting all the nine accused in the case.
"The state government will appeal in the Ahmednagar sessions court against the acquittal of the accused and 13 witnesses turning hostile," the statement said.
The Ahmednagar sessions court recently acquitted nine accused in the case. Out of the 26 witnesses, 13 witnesses in the case turned hostile.
The CM's statement came after the Republican Party activists staged a demonstration outside the Mantralaya seeking justice and action from the government.
Raju Aage, father of late Nitin Aage yesterday met Fadnavis along with local BJP Rajya Sabha MP Amar Sable.
The CM assured the victim's father that justice will be done, the statement said.
"The government will appeal in the Ahmednagar sessions court against the 13 witnesses turning hostile. A proposal to this effect will be presented by the Law and Judiciary department," it added.
Fadnavis also assured the family that the process of challenging the sessions court judgment in the Bombay High Court is currently underway.
Seventeen-year-old Nitin Aage, a class X student from Kharda village in Karjat taluka of Ahmednagar district was brutally killed in April 2014.
He was allegedly killed by the relatives of an upper-caste girl over his purported love affair with her.
His kin are demanding a re-trial of the case.