Hitting out at Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, Leader of Opposition in Maharashtra assembly Devendra Fadnavis on Tuesday alleged that the former "protects offenders for the desperation of power".
Fadnavis took Twitter to attack the ruling MVA government over the issue of Sharjeel Usm.
"Height of hypocrisy again. On one hand, our chief minister in the legislative assembly said, 'We will find Sharjeel Usm from any corner of the world and nab him anyhow.' But MVA's actions are totally opposite to their words," tweeted Fadnavis.
"In reality, Sharjeel came again in Pune, countered, slapped a reply to the chief minister, went back! Just to protect him and help to get bail easily, section 295A of IPC (used for outraging religious sentiments) too got systematically removed from the basic complaint, while registering the FIR by state. So, only section 153A (for promoting enmity between different groups) is invoked in the FIR," he added.
Launching a scathing attack on Thackeray, the BJP leader said, "When Sharjeel attempted to wage a war against our Nation during Elgar Parishad, we assumed that all respective sections of IPC including 124a (sedition), 295a will be invoked by the State. On top of all this, they are being helped by MVA to get land. Uddhav ji, how many more offenders will you protect for the desperation of power?"
Usm had attended the Elgar Parishad event orgsed at Pune's Ganesh Kala Krida Manch on January 30. Soon after, a video of him allegedly using objectionable words against the Hindu community went viral and demand for stern action against him was raised.
( With inputs from ANI )
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