Police took some students into preventive custody after they denied permission to attend the event
Mumbai: A case has been filed in Pune against Gujarat Dalit leader and legislator Jignesh Mevani and Umar Khalid of Delhi's Jawaharlal Nehru University, who have been accused of making provocative speeches triggering the caste tension between Dalits and upper caste Marathas that has swept across Maharashtra for the last four days. Three people have died during clashes and protests. This morning, the police cancelled an event that Mr Mevani and Mr Khalid were to speak at in Mumbai and took into custody students who decided to go ahead with it despite the refusal of permission.
- The case filed against Jignesh Mevani and Umar Khalid accuses them of creating enmity between people by their speeches at an event in Pune on December 31. The next day clashes broke out between Dalits attending the bi-centennial celebrations of the Bhima-Koregaon battle and local right-wing groups, in which a 28-year-old upper caste man died and 12 people were injured.
- Yesterday, following massive protests and violence by alleged supporters of Dalit groups, 16 cases were filed by the police and more than 300 people were detained. Two persons died in the clashes, one of them a 16-year-old.
- In view of the protests, the Mumbai police had refused permission for the "All India Students Summit 2018", reported news agency Press Trust of India. As the students decided to proceed with the event anyway, the police took some of them in preventive custody.
- Right-wing groups have accused Mr Mevani, who won in the Vadgam seat in the recent Gujarat elections, and Umar Khalid of inciting caste tension. The two had attended an event in Pune on December 31 meant to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Bhima-Koregaon.
- "Mevani provoked the people to come out on the streets and retaliate. Due to this statement, people took to the streets and tension gripped the city," read the complaint filed with the Pune police, reported PTI.
- On Tuesday, protesters hit the streets in Mumbai, holding up rail and road traffic in parts of the city and its suburbs.
- By evening, activist Prakash Ambedkar, grandson of Dalit icon BR Ambedkar, called for a shutdown in the state.
- Appealing for calm, Mr Mewani had tweeted: "Maharashtra government must ensure rule of law. I appeal to the people of Maharashtra to maintain peace"
- The 37-year-old lawyer-activist had contested the recent Gujarat assembly elections as an independent, with support from the Congress. He, along with Alpesh Thakore and Hardik Patel, had been the troika on which the Congress had pinned its hopes.
- Umar Khalid, a student of Delhi's prestigious JNU, had been named in a sedition case along with Kanhaiya Kumar in 2016. The two had been the organisers of an event on Afzhal Guru - who was hanged for conspiracy in the parliament attack case -- in the campus, where anti-national slogans had been raised.
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