Professor, 250 others booked after anti-Hindi protest in Mumbai sparks controversy

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, some other opposition leaders and a few Marathi actors had also attended the protest, but their names did not figure in the First Information Report (FIR).

Mumbai: A case was registered on Friday against professor Deepak Pawar of the University of Mumbai and some 250 others who had staged a protest against government resolutions (GR) introducing Hindi as a third language in schools in Maharashtra, police said.

Copies of the government resolutions (GR) introducing Hindi as a third language from Class 1 had been burnt during the event on June 29.

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Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, some other opposition leaders and a few Marathi actors had also attended the protest, but their names did not figure in the First Information Report (FIR).

No permission had been taken for the protest which took place on the road outside the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation in south Mumbai, said a police official.

Besides Pawar, a political science professor who also heads the Marathi Abhyas Kendra (centre for Marathi studies), activists Santosh Shinde, Santosh Gharat, Vaibha Mayekar, Shashi Pawar, Yugendra Salekar and Santosh Veer took part in the protest among others.

The protesters also torched an effigy, apparently representing the government, said the official.

The FIR names the organisers of the protest and those seen burning copies of the GR and the effigy in CCTV footage of the area, he said.

The names of the political leaders who were present then would likely be added to the FIR after investigation is over, the police official said.

The FIR was registered under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections 189 (unlawful assembly) and 223 (disobeying lawful order issued by a public servant) besides Maharashtra Police Act at Azad Maidan police station.

No arrest has been made.

Reacting to the development, Deepak Pawar said in a Facebook post that he and other Marathi lovers will not be deterred by such actions.

Facing intense opposition to the introduction of Hindi in state schools from Class 1, the BJP-led government subsequently withdrew the two GRs on the implementation of the three-language policy.