‘Free Kashmir’ Placard: FIR is being reviewed, says home min

Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on Wednesday said the first information report (FIR) registered against a Mumbai-based writer for holding a “Free Kashmir”

Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh on Wednesday said the first information report (FIR) registered against a Mumbai-based writer for holding a “Free Kashmir” placard during the recent protest at the Gateway of India, against the attacks on New Delhi’s Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) students, was being reviewed.

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Deshmukh said the state home department is likely to also review the cases that have been filed against activists and writers in the Elgar Parishad episode and that he has asked for a detailed report on it.

Booking activists by calling them “urban naxals” for merely criticising the government should not be endorsed, Deshmukh said.

Storyteller Tejal Prabhu was booked by the police under section 153 (B) (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration) of the Indian Penal Code for carrying a placard that read “Free Kashmir”. The police have also booked students’ leaders and activists, including former JNU student leader Umar Khalid, for staging protests.

“The police are taking a relook. The placard displayed by the woman may have been intended to raise a voice against the curbs on internet facilities, restrictions on the movement of local political leaders and citizens. The woman has already clarified her stance. The police will review the case,” Deshmukh said. He also said he has asked for the information on the cases against Khalid. Deshmukh said he is holding a review meeting with senior police officials over all these issues.

Meanwhile, days after Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar demanded a special investigation team (SIT) to probe the arrests of writers and activists involved in Elgar Parishad, Deshmukh indicated there could be a review of cases. Deshmukh said that he has asked the home department to submit a detailed report on the cases and their current status. The minister said that review of the cases will bring forth the fact whether they were arrested just for being dissidents.

The Pune Police had in July and August 2018 arrested nine activists — Sudhir Dhawale, Ronan Wilson, Surendra Gadling, Mahesh Raut, Shoma Sen, Arun Ferreira, Vernon Gonsalves, Sudha Bharadwaj and Varavara Rao — in connection with the Elgar Parishad conclave, held in the city on December 31, 2017. The police alleged that the conclave was supported by Maoists and inflammatory speeches made at the event had led to the violence at the Bhima-Koregaon war memorial in the district the next day.

Pawar on December 21 last year had alleged that the action against them was vengeful and wrong and needed to be probed by a SIT of retired or serving judges. He had also alleged that a few senior officials from the Pune Police commissionerate had “misused their powers” and hence it needed to be investigated.

In the backdrop of Pawar’s stance, the home minister’s statement assumes significance. “The ongoing case will clear the air on whether the arrested accused had any role to play in the Bhima-Koregaon violence. The previous government had set an example of vengeful action against people who disagreed with their views,” he said.