Jignesh Mewani, Umar Khalid speeches to be live-streamed on Facebook and YouTube

Police have booked the duo for allegedly inciting violence in Bhima Koregaon, which led to Dalit protests and Maharashtra bandh

After student outfit Chhatra Bharati was denied permission to hold a seminar in Vile Parle on Thursday, it will now hold its conference online on January 10.

Student outfit Chhatra Bharati said it wanted to show the authorities and politicians that they cannot muzzle freedom of expression. (HT File)

As part of the seminar, Dalit activist-legislator Jignesh Mewani and student leader Umar Khalid will give speeches, which will be streamed live on Facebook and YouTube.

The group said it wanted to show the authorities and politicians that they cannot muzzle freedom of expression.

“We were unfairly denied permission to hold the seminar, based on frivolous grounds. This online convention is a protest, meant to spread the message that such tactics will not deter students from voicing their opinion,” said Sagar Bhalerao, vice president, Chhatra Bharati.

The police had booked Mewani and Khalid for allegedly inciting violence in Bhima-Koregaon, which made national headlines and led to a Maharashtra bandh being organised on Wednesday in protest against the incident.

While Mewani, the face of Dalit politics in Gujarat, was elected to the state Assembly, Khalid is a well-known Jawaharlal Nehru University student leader and was arrested on sedition charges in February 2016.

Unwilling to take a risk, the Mumbai police denied it permission to hold the event, detained the organisers and invoked section 144 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code to prevent people from assembling at the spot.

In response, Chhatra Bharati members staged a protest.

Bhalerao said they decided to hold an online summit keeping in mind the large number of student leaders who had come to the city from across India to attend the summit.

“Organising their stay in Mumbai again would be a logistical nightmare. An online seminar will ensure that they can address the audience at home. It also ensures that we will not be at the mercy of the police or have to seek their permission,” he added.