Maharashtra govt initiates action against senior officers responsible for Jalna violence lathi charge

Maharashtra govt following the statewide uproar by the Maratha community over the lathi charge on protesters in Antarwali-Sarti village in Jalna on Friday, has taken action against the senior police officers from the district.The government has sent Jalna superintendent of police (SP) Tushar Doshi on compulsory leave, holding him responsible for police brutality on the protestors, while additional superintendent of police (ASP) Rahul Khade and deputy superintendent of police (DSP) Mukund Aghav have been transferred out of the district, officials said.

Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde, who is in Buldhana to attend the Shashan Apalya Dari, the outreach program of the state government, on Saturday, announced the action saying that they were even ready for a judiciary probe, as demanded by the opposition.Shinde said that his government was committed to restoring the Maratha reservation.Till the Maratha community gets reservation, the government schemes that are already in place will continue and deserving people from the Maratha community will benefit from it," he added. Reservation in jobs and education provided by the state government to the Maratha community was quashed by the Supreme Court in May 2021, citing the 50 per cent ceiling on total reservations among other grounds.

An agitation seeking reservation for the Marathas turned violent at Antarwali Sarathi village in Jalna on Friday, leading to several people, including dozens of police personnel, getting injured. Police resorted to lathi-charge and lobbed tear gas shells to disperse a violent mob that allegedly refused to let authorities shift a man on a hunger strike as part of the quota stir to the hospital. Police registered a case against more than 360 people in connection with the violence, officials said.