Jignesh Mevani-Umar Khalid event denied permission in Mumbai; protesters detained

MUMBAI: Massive protests erupted in Mumbai’s Vile Parle area as police denied permission for an event scheduled to be addressed by dalit leader Jignesh Mevani and Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University’s (JNU) student leader Umar Khalid on Thursday.
Separately, Pune police today registered an FIR against Mevani and Khalid in Pune’s Vishrambaug Police Station under sections 153(A), 505 and 117 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), reported ANI.
In Mumbai, meanwhile, police were today forced to detain some students and event organisers to restore law and order in the state capital that has already witnessed violence in the last two to three days during dalit protests. The administration has also imposed section 149 in parts of Mumbai.
There was a commotion outside city’s Bhaidas Hall as scores of cops started picking protesting students and took them to Juhu police station for detention. The Bhaidas Hall is situated on Gulmohar Road where half a dozen colleges are also located and is usually very crowded.

Juhu police has issued a notice to Chatra Bharti under Section 141 of the CRPC. The notice states that permission was denied for the event in the context of the Maharashtra bandh.
Jignesh Mevani, student activists Umar Khalid and Richa Singh, and MLC Kapil Patil were to be part of the All India Students Summit 2018, an event organised by students’ group Chatra Bharati.
The event was to take place at the Bhaidas Auditorium in Vile Parle on Thursday between 11am and 6pm. The organisers were confident that the event would take place as per the schedule despite not getting police permission. “All the speakers confirmed that they would come and we were expecting a great session,” said Sachin Bansode, one of the organisers.

But the police, keeping Wednesday’s violent incidents in mind took into custody Kapil Patil and approximately 70-80 students as the organisers had said they would conduct the event on road if need be in case of permission denial.
“Umar Khalid and Jignesh Mevani have been invited at this event here, this had been fixed earlier,” said Sagar Bhalerao of the Chhatra Bharati.
“Had booked Bhaidas Hall for All India National Students’ Summit here on Thursday, but now we are being denied entry. Reason police is citing is the news doing the rounds about Umar Khalid and Jignesh Mevani for the past few days,” he added.

The ‘news’ he was referring to is a complaint filed against the two leaders for an event in Pune, on the basis of which police today registered an FIR at Pune’s Vishrambaug Police Station.
The IPC sections that police registered an FIR relate to allegedly provocative statements the duo made at an event on December 31. Mevani and Khalid had attended the “Elgar Parishad”, an event organised to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the battle of Bhima-Koregaon, at Shaniwar Wada in the city.

An FIR was registered against them under sections 153(A), 505 and 117 of the IPC.
Section 505 pertains to statements intended to cause mischief, intended to incite, or likely to incite, any class or community of persons to commit any offence. Section 117 of the IPC is to do with abetting commission of offences by the public or by more than ten persons. And Section 153 (A) is to do with promoting enmity between different groups on the grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and committing acts prejudicial to the maintenance of harmony.

Clashes between Dalit groups and supporters of right-wing Hindutva organisations during the 200th anniversary celebrations of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in Pune district had left a man dead.