NewDelhi: After Mumbai, the Delhi Police on Monday denied permission to a public meeting that was scheduled to be addressed by newly-elected Gujarat MLA and Dalit leader Jignesh Mevani on Tuesday.
The police denied the permission to the meet under Section 144 and claimed that the decision was taken to maintain law and order in the national capital ahead of the Republic Day.
Jignesh was likely to raise issues like land, dignity and education in his public meet today.
Earlier on January 4, the Mumbai Police had denied permission to a summit that was to be addressed by Mevani and JNU student Umar Khalid. Several students were detained who had gathered outside a hall for the event and protested against the police for not giving permission for the programme.
The authorities also detained the organisers of the event – Sachin Bansode, president of Chhatra Bharati, his deputy Sagar Bhalerao and an MLC Kapil.
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 Pune.
Violence erupted in Pune district when Dalit groups were celebrating the bicentenary of the Bhima-Koregaon battle in which the forces of the British East India Company defeated the Peshwa’s Army.
Several towns and cities in Maharashtra were on edge on Tuesday as Dalit protests against Monday’s deadly violence in Pune spilled over to capital Mumbai, with agitators damaging scores of buses, and disrupting road and rail traffic.
Over 160 buses were damaged in Mumbai by rampaging protesters, of which 100 were detained.
Bureau Report
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