Maharashtra Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday said the government will request the Supreme Court to conduct a judicial inquiry into the clashes that erupted near Pune during celebrations to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Bhima Koregaon.
The Crime Investigation Department of the Maharashtra Police will conduct an inquiry into the death of a man during the violence, he told reporters. Fadnavis has also sanctioned Rs 10 lakh as compensation for the victim’s family.
Prakash Ambedkar, the grandson of Dalit icon BR Ambedkar, said his group, the Bharipa Bahujan Mahasangh, would not accept the judicial inquiry the government ordered. Instead, he asked for the chief justice of the Bombay High Court to appoint a sitting judge to investigate the matter.
“The judge should have the powers to collect the evidence and to punish the culprits,” Ambedkar said, according to The Indian Express. “The inquiry should be conducted by a non-Dalit judge.”
Demonstrators from Dalit communities called for a “rasta roko” (road block) protest in Mumbai on Tuesday, and many buses were vandalised in Pune’s Hadapsar and Phursungi areas. Bus services to Ahmednagar and Aurangabad in the state were also suspended.
Some reports said protestors had stopped traffic in many parts of Mumbai, and a number of shops in the neighbourhoods of Powai, Mulund, Mankhurd, Bhandup and Govandi pulled down their shutters in anticipation of violence.
On Monday, individuals with saffron flags had reportedly pelted stones at cars going towards Bhima Koregaon village, where lakhs of people gather every New Year’s Day to commemorate the victory of the English, whose troops comprised mostly of Mahar soldiers, against the Brahmin Peshwa-led Maratha Empire in 1818.
Union minister demands protection for Dalits
Minister of State for Social Justice Ramdas Athawale on Monday demanded police protection for Dalits and asked for additional forces to be deployed in Bhima Koregaon. “Dalit groups visiting Bhima Koregaon village in vehicles were halted at Sanaswadi, a village near Koregaon,” Athawale said in a statement. “Stones were hurled at them. No police force was available for their protection.”
Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar alleged that right-wing forces had instigated the people of Vadhu Budruk. “People have been coming to this place for the last 200 years,” Pawar said. “Nothing of this sort has ever taken place. Since it was the 200th anniversary of a significant event, a larger crowd was expected and hence the administration should have been more careful.”
The former Union minister appealed for peace and urged people not to believe in rumours.
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