Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis on Wednesday condemned the attack on a policeman in Latur for allegedly not allowing some locals to put up flags at communally sensitive areas on the occasion of Shiv Jayanti last Friday. Mr Fadnavis said it was an attack on the entire police force and that such acts would not be tolerated.
“I have told the DG police and minister of state for home to visit Paangav in Latur,” Mr Fadnavis said in his Twitter post. “The government feels that it is not an attack on an individual but on the (police) force. Won’t tolerate such act,” the CM tweeted.
According to reports, two policemen were beaten up allegedly by a mob for objecting to a saffron flag put up on the occasion of Shiv Jayanti at a controversial spot in Paangav village of Latur district on Friday, when Shiv Jayanti was observed in the state.
In the incident, head constable Shaikh Yunus Pashamiyan (57), one of the police officers, sustained severe injuries.
According to the police, the alleged incident took place when a group of locals wanted to put a flag and a bust of Shivaji in a square in Shivajinagar area, where an old mosque and a Buddhist stupa stand. There had been a dispute about celebration of Shiv Jayanti at the spot earlier. On the evening of February 18, Mr Pashamiyan and another constable visited the spot and requested the group to remove the saffron flag.
The flag was then removed. But the next morning, a mob of 100-odd people attacked Pangaav police chowki and ransacked it. While Mr Pashamiyan’s colleague succeeded in fleeing, Mr Pashamiyan was thrashed by the mob and taken to the disputed spot where he was forced to put up the flag. Then he was beaten up again, according to the complaint filed by him. The nearby Renapur police station sent a police force to the village a couple of hours later and arrested 14 persons.
A video of the purported attack, which has gone viral, shows Mr Pashamiyan being made to hold a saffron flag and walk down a street with the mob.
