Coming down heavily on central and state agencies probing the killings of rationalists Narendra Dabholkar and Govind Pansare, the Bombay High Court today said the authorities are showing no urgency despite the country witnessing a "tragic phase" where one cannot speak or move around freely. A bench of Justices SC Dharmadhikari and Bharati Dangre said it was not satisfied with the probe and returned the 'confidential reports' submitted by the Maharashtra state CID and the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) with an observation that there was nothing confidential in those reports.

The bench observed that one was witnessing a "tragic phase" in the country where one could not even speak or move around freely, and yet, the authorities in the above cases had failed to show urgency, or make concrete progress, in probing the killings. Dabholkar was shot dead on August 20, 2013, in Pune while on his morning walk. Pansare was shot at on February 16, 2015, in Kolhapur and succumbed to his injuries a few days later on February 20. The CBI and the state CID are probing the killings of Dabholkar and Pansare, respectively.