Case against Mumbai varsity professor, others for 'illegal' protest over teaching Hindi in schools

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

No permission had been taken for the protest on the road outside the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation in south Mumbai on June 29, 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.

A First Information Report was registered against them 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, the official said.

No arrest has been made, he added.

Reacting to the development, 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 two GRs on the implementation of the three-language policy.