Home Minister R R Patil is known to be the most trusted man of his party chief Sharad Pawar, who himself is an atheist, keeps away from religious rituals and claims to be free of superstition.u00a0

And yet, his government has done little to safeguard the interests of those who risk their lives to speak out against superstition and injustice in society. On several occasions, religious bigots threatened Dabholkar. While it is true that the brave man refused police protection, the intelligence department had a responsibility to at least keep tabs on potential threats.