High court relief for Prez's husband

NAGPUR: The Nagpur bench of the Bombay high court has dismissed criminal proceedings started by Jalgaon-Jamod district court against Devisingh Shekhawat, husband of President Pratibha Patil, related to abetment of a school teacher's suicide.

The court, however, gave its nod to continue proceedings against Pralhad Jadhav, principal of a school run by Vidya Bharati Shikshan Prasarak Mandal at Gunghad in Jalgaon district.

A single-judge bench of Justice Arun Chaudhari has also set aside court proceedings against three others including school secretary Genda Singh Chitthore, school panel chairman Darya Singh Rajput and Suresh Singh Shekhawat in the same case stating that "there was no proof of direct involvement of the petitioners" in the case. Shriram Palshikar was the counsel for petitioner Shekhawat.

According to advocate Palshikar, the case pertained to alleged suicide by Kisan Dhage, an assistant teacher in a school run by Vidya Bharati Mandal of which Shekhawat was president. Dhage had joined the school in 1977. On November 15, 1998, he ended his life. In his suicide note, Dhage blamed Shekhawat and four others for harassment. The police then registered the case against Shekhawat only after the Dhage's widow, Mangala, approached a court of judicial magistrate first class at Jalgaon-Jamod.
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