200 booked in Fergusson row

NCP activists in Thane protest against the manhandling of NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad at Fergusson College in Pune (Photo: Deepak Kurkunde)

A case of rioting has been registered against over 200 unidentified persons in connection with a clash between workers of NCP and Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha and ABVP activists on Fergusson College campus where NCP MLA Jitendra Awhad was allegedly manhandled, police said on Thursday.

The Deccan Gymkhana police, where the case of rioting was registered under relevant sections of the IPC late Wednesday night, said that identification of people from various organisations is underway and CCTV footage as well as video grabs of the incident are being scrutinised. On Wednesday, Mr Awhad was allegedly heckled as he reached the campus to interact with students and the principal after the latter dashed off a letter to Pune police, seeking action against those who purportedly raised anti-national slogans during the ABVP’s informal event to discuss the topic “Truth of JNU” in the presence of JNU ABVP leader, Alok Singh. Principal R.G. Pardeshi, however, retracted his statement the next day, calling it a “typographical error” after several Dalit organisations accused him of branding students, including Sujat Ambedkar, great-grandson of B.R. Ambedkar and son of former MP Prakash Ambedkar as “anti-nationals”. “We registered a case late Wednesday night against over 200 unidentified people from both the groups,” said a police inspector. Mr Awhad however denied he was manhandled. “The police steered me from the location safely,” he said.

Meanwhile, ABVP state secretary Ram Satpute said Mr Awhad was trying to politicise the matter and criticised leftist and Ambedkar-ite organisations. “Leftist and Ambedkar-ite organisations talk of freedom of speech. We were conducting the programme peacefully but they tried to disrupt. What about our freedom of speech ” questioned Mr Satpute.

However, Mr Sujat from the Ambedkar-ite organisation refuted ABVP’s charges and blamed the college administration for being biased towards the right-wing organisation. “The ABVP programme had no permission. A similar programme which we tried to organise in the past in connection with FTII was disrupted by the ABVP and the security of the college. I went to the ABVP programme after I got a personal invitation. We wanted to ask questions to their leader, as our ideology is different. But we had no plan or intention to disrupt the programme. Our anger is towards the college administration for being biased” said Mr Sujat.