Four members of the Republican Party of India (Athawale) were acquitted by a special court on charges of trying to set alight an office bearer of the party over differences about a protest held in 2017.The court said that the incident was ‘more of a political stunt than an attempt to commit murder’.Vishal Diwar, Vishal Jonjal, Vishal Gaikwad and Shirish Chikhalkar were cleared of charges under section 307 (attempt to murder) and 504 (intentional insult) of the Indian Penal Code. The complaint was filed by Sopan Kamble, a retired employee of BEST, and a follower of the RPI (A).At the time of the incident in 2017, he was functioning as the President of the South Mumbai Zone of the party. An agitation was called by the party to protest and demand a CBI inquiry into the murder of noted Ambedkarite thinker and scholar Dr Krishna Kirwale in Kolhapur in 2017. Permission was taken for the protest at Azad Maidan to be held on March 6, 2017. It was alleged that the four accused were insisting that the agitation should also include a rasta roko, to stop the traffic, so that their demands are taken note of.Kamble, however, was of the view that since the permission was only for a protest at Azad Maidan, there should be no rasta roko as it would cause public inconvenience. After the protest was completed at Azad Maidan, attended by senior party leaders and over 100 activists, the accused Diwar began arguing with Kamble that a rasta roko should have happened.The accused then began chanting slogans against Kamble. Even as others tried to stop them, they became violent, the police claimed. It was alleged that Chikhalkar brought a tin of kerosene and poured it over Kamble and Diwar brought out a matchbox to set Kamble alight. It was claimed that the other two accused assaulted Kamble. Kamble’s wife and others present intervened and stopped the accused. Then they went to the Azad Maidan police to file an FIR.During the trial, apart from Kamble and his wife, all other eyewitnesses turned hostile. The court also noted that there were inconsistencies in the statement of Kamble’s wife, as she had said that Diwar was merely holding a matchbox which was taken away.Story continues below this adThe court said that no burnt matchstick was found and the evidence shows that none of the accused actually attempted to light a matchstick to set fire on Kamble. “What emerges from the evidence is that there was a political clash between the accused and the informant. The accused wanted to express their grievance in a different manner, to which the informant (Kamble) did not agree. There is evidence that the accused shouted slogans against the informant, demanding his removal from the office of President. Even if it is accepted that one of the accused poured inflammable material on the informant, it appears to have been a political drama at that point of time. It falls short of constituting the offence of attempt to murder under Section 307 IPC,” special judge Satyanarayan R Navander said in the order passed last week, made available on Thursday.Lawyer Sunil Pandey, appearing for one of the accused, had claimed that it was a false case resulting out of political rivalry. The court noted that while there was a forensic report on the wet clothes of Kamble seized after the incident which showed the presence of kerosene, it raised doubts over the recovery of a matchbox from the spot, claiming that since it was snatched away from the accused, it could not have been found on the ground.It said the assault too was not proven as the medical certificate did not mention any injuries. “When the possibility of false implication arises from the prosecution evidence, the benefit of doubt must go to the accused. On an overall assessment, the court concludes that the evidence of informant Sopan Kamble and Jayshree is neither trustworthy nor reliable. There is no sufficient evidence to establish an attempt to commit murder of the informant,” the court said.