Maratha protests: Police issue notice to Jarange, others to vacate Azad Maidan
Maratha protests: Police issue notice to Jarange, others to vacate Azad Maidan
M.U.H
02/09/202529
MUMBAI: A day after the Bombay high court granted liberty to the Maharashtra state authorities to take appropriate action against Maratha quota activists for having violated the conditions laid down at the time of granting permission to their leader Manoj Jarange Patil to protest at Azad Maidan, the police on Tuesday morning served a notice to the organisers to vacate the famous ground - a designated protest spot in the state capital- and the nearby areas taken over by the protestors.
The Azad Maidan police told the organisers that they do not have permission to continue the protests and asked them to vacate the ground. The police told the organisers that permission was denied for continuing the protest as they violated several conditions by spreading over the entire area surrounding Azad Maidan, blocking main arterial roads in South Mumbai etc.
The notice served by senior police inspector, Shrikant Adate said that it had received an application from the core-committee on Monday seeking permission to continue the protest at Azad Maidan, where Jarange is sitting on indefinite hunger strike. However, as there were several violations of the terms and conditions laid down in earlier permission, it was decided to reject the application and you are hereby directed to vacate the ground, it added.
The police had on August 29 granted conditional permission to the Maratha quota activists to protest at Azad Maidan, under the Public Meetings, Agitations and Processions Rules, 2025. The Rules limit the protest at designated area - Azad Maidan - and the number of protestors to 5,000, but thousands of protestors have landed in the city from far off Marathwada, mainly in transport vehicles, along with Jarange Patil, and have been residing on streets around Azad Maidan since August 29.
Jarange has declared an indefinite hunger strike for his demands to include all Marathas into Kunbi community - an Other Backward Caste (OBC) - and reservation in public employment and education for Maratha community members under OBC. OBCs in Maharashtra enjoy 19% reservation.
The police said the protest organisers had specifically assured in the beginning that they would not disturb normal life or traffic in the city, but the entire south Mumbai has been brought to a standstill by the protestors who have spread over the entire area.
“The protestors are on an indefinite fast agitation from 29th of August, they include 40,000 protestors from various parts of Maharashtra, 11,000 small and large four wheeler vehicles of which 5,000 are in South Mumbai in areas such as Azad Maidan, high court premises, Mantralaya premises, Colaba, Kalbadevi, Dongri, Pydhuni, Wadibunder, etc area parked illegally,” said a police officer.
All these vehicles have been parked haphazardly on main roads and major junctions without following any traffic rules, causing complete chaos in the traffic of those areas. As a result, the general public has been deprived of access to emergency, essential, governmental, semi-governmental, and private institutions in South Mumbai such as the high court, sessions court, other courts, Cama Hospital, St. George Hospital, G.T. Hospital, Bombay Hospital, Mantralaya, Vidhan Bhavan, Maharashtra Mumbai Police Headquarters, CSMT/Churchgate Railway Station, etc.
Additionally, the protestors have created a public health hazard by cooking food in the open and bathing in the open in these public spaces, and defecating and urinating in the open. They have also engaged in indecent behavior in a public place, the officer said, adding that one Tanaji Balajirao Patil, a resident of Nanded, had on August 29 attempted to self-immolate by pouring a flammable substance on himself at Azad Maidan.
We have seen them climb roofs of vehicles, take off their clothes, perform strange dances, and climb on signal poles to chant slogans. Furthermore, they encroached on BEST city buses in Mumbai and quarreled with Mumbai citizens with rude behavior. Due to this they have violated the conditions of the Mumbai Police permission and also the Bombay high court directives, so no further permission is granted to the protesters, declaring their protest illegal, and they should withdraw from the ground, said the police officer.
