In an affidavit filed before the Koregaon Bhima Inquiry Commission, the Pune City Police has sought an order to ban protests and public programmes at various places in the city, including Shaniwar Wada, where the Elgaar Parishad was held in 2017. The affidavit also stated that “people from outside” gather in Pune for “social and political programmes and agitations” and “they are provoked for disturbing peace and causing riot-like incidents”.
Pune City Police is investigating the alleged Maoist links of the organisers of Elgaar Parishad, a one-day conference held at Shaniwar Wada on December 31, 2017. Police have claimed that “provocative” speeches at the conference triggered violence in Koregaon Bhima area the next day. The inquiry commission, set up by the state government, is trying to acsertain the sequence of events that led to the violence, which claimed one life, and determine who was responsible for it.
Advocate Aashish Satpute, the lawyer for the commission, confirmed that the supplementary affidavit has been filed by Additional Commissioner of Police Ravindra Sengaonkar.
In the affidavit, the ACP said, “Pune has several state and central government offices. Due to it, people outside the city are gathered here for social and political programmes, agitations, protest marches of various organisations and political parties. They are provoked for disturbing peace, causing riot-like incidents involving people from other states, making it difficult for the police to control the situation. Many times, agitations, protests cause traffic jams …Due to it, the life of common people in the city gets affected. The importance of historical places is not maintained. So, in view of the law and order situation and security reasons, it is requested to ban programmes like public gatherings, agitations, and protests at historical and sensitive places in the city.”
