Mumbai: Bhim Army chief Chandrashekhar Azad, who has not been given permission to hold public meetings in Pune ahead of the Battle of Koregaon anniversary, did not get any relief from the Bombay high court.
The court on Monday refused to pass any orders to the Pune police to permit the Bhim Army to conduct public meetings. However, the court has asked the state to file an affidavit on Mr Azad’s claims that he has been facing house arrest in Maharashtra.
The state has denied these claims and said that the police have been only monitoring his movements and not kept him under house arrest. The court was hearing a petition challenging house arrest of Mr Azad and denial of permission for taking public speeches on December 29, December 30 and December 31.
A vacation bench of Justice C.V. Bhadang directed the Pune police to file its affidavit in response to a petition filed by activist Datta Pol, chief of the Bhim Army’s Pune unit. Mr Azad was scheduled to address a rally at the SSPMS college ground in Pune on Sunday evening. However, it was cancelled as the organisers failed to get required permissions. On Saturday, his supporters alleged that he was ‘detained’ at a Mum-bai hotel, a charge that the police have denied.
Dalit leaders were also scheduled to have an interaction with students at Savitribai Phule Pune University on Monday, but the varsity officials said no permission had been granted for the programme.
In the petition, Mr Pol sought a direction to the Pune police to grant them permission to hold public meetings. According to the petition, the Bhim Army had filed several applications to the Pune police seeking permission to conduct public meetings and gatherings on December 30 and 31.
“However, till date, the police have not replied to the petition. We later learnt from the media that our applications have been rejected. Hence, this petition has been filed seeking a direction to police to allow us to hold public meetings,” said Mr Pol’s advocate Nitin Satpute.
The petition further claimed that the Mumbai police had kept Mr Azad and Bhim Army’s Mum-bai chief Ashok Kamble under house arrest. On Monday, an advocate appearing for the Pune police informed Justice Bhadang that Mr Azad was never detained or placed under house arrest.
The high court refused to pass any interim order and directed the police to file its affidavit while posting the petition for hearing on January 4.
