Youth assaulted for insisting on Marathi use on WhatsApp; four classmates booked

Four students have been booked, and one of them has been arrested, for allegedly assaulting a classmate in Navi Mumbai after he insisted on communication in Marathi in their WhatsApp group, an official said on Saturday.

In his complaint, 20-year-old Suraj Pawar said he was attacked on Tuesday with a hockey stick outside Motilal Jhunjhunwala College, Vashi.

A police official said Pawar had shared an invite in a WhatsApp group for a family member’s wedding. When his classmate Faizan Naik replied in Hindi, Pawar demanded to know why he had not communicated in Marathi, triggering an argument.

Pawar alleged that Naik and three other classmates targeted him outside their college and hit him, he said.

Naik was arrested after an inquiry, the official said. A case has been registered against all four students under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita section 118 (1), which concerns “causing hurt or grievous hurt using dangerous weapons or means”, he added.