Maharashtra Police to transfer case against Sharad Pawar’s party leader to Mahad

The Maharashtra Police informed the Bombay High Court on Monday that it would transfer a case registered against NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) leader and former Maharashtra minister Jitendra Awhad from Pune to Mahad.
During the hearing, Additional Public Prosecutor VB Konde-Deshmukh, representing the state, said there was no objection to transferring the case from Pune to Mahad.
The bench, comprising Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Prithviraj Chavan, remarked, “The prerogative is yours (Police’s), so you take a decision.”
Following the court’s instructions, Konde-Deshmukh confirmed, “We will transfer the Pune case to Mahad. Nothing survives in the petition now.” The court then disposed of Awhad’s petition.
Awhad had filed the petition, seeking to combine three FIRs lodged against him in Mahad and Pune. These FIRs were filed from an incident in May where Awhad “mistakenly” tore a poster of Babasaheb Ambedkar instead of tearing a copy of the Manusmriti during a protest in Mahad.
Two FIRs were registered in Mahad, and one was filed at the Pune Bund Garden Police Station. The complainants in these cases include a policeman and a member of the BJP.
Awhad earlier stated that Manusmriti has been criticised by many scholars, and there were rumours that the ruling state government intended to incorporate some of its chapters into the syllabus of primary schools in Maharashtra.
In opposition to this move, Awhad held a protest in Mahad, a significant location for Ambedkar’s activism.
The bench also noted a recent case in which Awhad sought to club seven FIRs filed against him over his comment that Lord Ram was non-vegetarian, suggesting the matter had already been addressed.