Jawaharlal Nehru University Students' Union President Kanhaiya Kumar was on Sunday served with a notice by the Pune Police, prohibiting him from making any inflammatory speeches in the city. This follows an alleged incident where Kumar claimed that a fellow passenger, identified as Manas Deka, tried to strangle him aboard a Jet Airways flight headed to Pune from Mumbai, after which they were both deplaned.

Soon after Kumar arrived in Pune by road escorted by police security, he was served with a notice that barred him from making “provocative speeches” during his address. The decision was made taking into consideration “past instances” where his speeches resulted in “disturbance of public tranquility among the masses”, according to the notice.

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Kumar was scheduled to speak at an event titled “Rohith Act and safeguarding Indian Constitution” at Balgandharva Rang Mandir auditorium, where police had already deployed 250 personnel to ensure security.

National President of the All India Students Federation Syed Valliullah Khadri, who had accompanied Kumar from Mumbai, told Scroll.in that the order was handed to them only a couple of hours before the event. “The police stopped us just as we were entering the city by road and handed over this notice, which asks him to not give inflammatory speeches,” he said.

However, he added that the student leader will proceed to address the meeting as planned. “We are not scared of their ways to silence us,” he said. “Kanhaiya will say what he has come here to say, and we will see what happens.”

Additional Commissioner of Police C Wakade had confirmed to PTI on Saturday that they would serve Kumar a pre-emptive notice asking him to "abstain from making any provocative and inciting statements during his speech".

The order is valid for 15 days starting April 23. It warns that the student leader will be prosecuted under section 188 of the Indian Penal Code if he violates it.