Mumbai: Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar) MLA Rohit Pawar was booked along with 50-60 other party workers for obstructing public servants after he shouted at a sub-inspector inside a police station at Azad Maidan on Friday at 2am, said the police.
Early on Friday, NCP SP MLAs Pawar and Jitendra Awhad came to the Azad Maidan police station with party workers and allegedly shouted at policemen, and cried out slogans against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and prime minister Narendra Modi.
Police sub inspector Bhagwat Marotirao Gopane, 41, said that Rohit, the grandnephew of Sharad Pawar, got into a heated argument with a policeman and shouted, “Don’t be smart, if you are not able to speak, don’t speak.” A viral video shows Pawar, grandnephew of NCP (SP) chief Sharad Pawar, yelling at the sub-inspector in Marathi, “Keep your voice down, keep your voice down. If you raise your hand, I will teach you a lesson”. Another member of the group insulted the officer calling him a “simple PSI”, the police added.
Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, meanwhile, expressed his displeasure at Rohit Pawar’s behaviour, saying such conduct by a few leaders maligns the image of all public representatives. “Many people and even journalists are saying that they (MLAs) have started thinking themselves too smart and think that they are above the law. When a few public representatives behave wrongly, everyone gets blamed,” he told reporters in Pune when asked about the viral video of his nephew Rohit. He added, “No public representative, including myself, should behave in such a manner. We must act in accordance with the tradition of cultured Maharashtra, keeping in mind the constitution and the rule of law laid by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, and the teachings of the late Yashwantrao Chavan.”
{{/usCountry}}Deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, meanwhile, expressed his displeasure at Rohit Pawar’s behaviour, saying such conduct by a few leaders maligns the image of all public representatives. “Many people and even journalists are saying that they (MLAs) have started thinking themselves too smart and think that they are above the law. When a few public representatives behave wrongly, everyone gets blamed,” he told reporters in Pune when asked about the viral video of his nephew Rohit. He added, “No public representative, including myself, should behave in such a manner. We must act in accordance with the tradition of cultured Maharashtra, keeping in mind the constitution and the rule of law laid by Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, and the teachings of the late Yashwantrao Chavan.”
{{/usCountry}}NCP SP national spokesperson Clyde Crasto said, “Leaders connected to the BJP have been given a free hand to take law in their own hands. Law is acting against the opposition leaders who protest against law breakers.” Crasto alleged that Rohit and Awhad were victims and law was acting against them.
According to the police, the group came to the police station to visit some injured party workers who had been detained after the clash at the Vidhan Bhavan building between supporters of Awhad and the BJP MLA Gopichand Padalkar on Thursday. After the clash, several members from both the groups had been detained and handed over to the police station.
Senior inspector Satish Gaikwad of the Cuffe Parade police station came to the scene to convince the crowd to quieten down, but they ignored him and continued their slogans against Modi and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis. After creating a commotion in the police station, the group finally departed.
Based on Gopane’s statement an FIR was registered against Awhad, Pawar, and others of the group under sections 189(2) (unlawful assembly), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke a breach of peace), 353(1) (B) (statements conducing to public mischief) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and relevant sections of the Maharashtra Police Act.
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