Ramdas Athawale may get snared by noise norms

Union minister Ramdas Athawale may get into trouble for violating noise pollution norms. On Monday night, he gave a speech at 10.23pm at an RPI rally in Ulhasnagar, going against the Supreme Court's 10pm restriction. Firecrackers too were lit at the event.
Athawale, who heads RPI and is junior minister for social justice and empowerment in the Modi government, was scheduled to reach Ulhasnagar earlier in the evening, but reached after 10pm. A local corporator, Bhagwan Bhalerao, who had organised the RPI rally, urged Athawale to deliver a speech, saying party workers had waited for him for around four hours.
Following the incident, the police registered a case against Bhalerao and sound system operator Pramod Thorat under section 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal code. But an anti-noise pollution activist, Sarita Khanchandani, said she will move high court against police's inaction on Athawale. As for Bhalerao, she said he also ought to have been booked for violating noise rules.
Incidentally, Bhalerao, RPI's Ulhasnagar chief, had organized the event expecting an RPI ticket to fight the state assembly polls. To his disappointment, Athawale didn't declare his candidacy directly during the short four-minute speech, only saying that he will try to get a ticket for Bhalerao after discussions with ally BJP. Asked about rule violations, Athawale told journalists that the event's organiser told him permission had been obtained for a late speech. DCP (zone 3, Thane) Pramod Shewale said that if required, "action in the case will be taken against others too".