FIR against organiser of Solapur MLA’s sons’ weddings for Covid violation

PUNE: The local police have registered a case against the organiser of the marriage ceremonies of two sons of an MLA (member of legislative assembly) from Solapur district for alleged violation of Covid-19 norms, an official said on Tuesday

PUNE: The local police have registered a case against the organiser of the marriage ceremonies of two sons of an MLA (member of legislative assembly) from Solapur district for alleged violation of Covid-19 norms, an official said on Tuesday.

HT Image

The nuptials of the two sons of Rajendra Raut, independent legislator from Barshi town in Solapur, were held at the premises of Laxmi Sopan Agriculture Produce Committee in Barshi on Sunday. Despite official guidelines permitting only 50 people to attend such functions in the state, the two ceremonies held by Raut had over 2,500 people in attendance, according to police officials. That’s not all; most of the guests were seen without masks and flouting social distancing norms, the police said. Some BJP leaders too, including state unit chief Chandrakant Patil, were among the attendees. A case has been registered against one Yogesh Pawar, described by the police as the “organiser” of the ceremonies, under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code, Disaster Management Act and Epidemic Diseases Act.

As per the first information report (FIR) filed in the case, while granting permission to Pawar for the ceremonies, he informed that not more than 50 guests would attend and that all attendees would wear masks and follow social distancing norms.

Meanwhile, Dinanath Katkar, a social activist from Barshi, expressed surprise over registration of the case against Pawar instead of the parents of the brides and grooms. “The case has been registered against a person who is not well-known. It should have been registered against the parents of those who got married and who own the premises where the events were held,” he said.

According to S D Girigosavi, senior inspector, Barshi city police station, Pawar is one of the directors of the Laxmi Sopan Agriculture Produce Committee, the premises of which were the events’ venue. “Since he had applied for permission and was the organiser of the ceremonies, we registered a case against him. However, we are also considering adding the names of the grooms’ parents after checking the legalities,” he said.

(With agency inputs)