The Thane Police arrested Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former Maharashtra Minister Jitendra for allegedly stopping the screening of the Marathi film ‘Har Har Mahadev’, a movie based on the life of Maratha king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, earlier this week.
On November 8, a First Information Report (FIR) was registered against him and 100 party workers for forcibly stopping the screening of the movie at a mall in Thane and allegedly assaulting the viewers. According to them the film “distorted the Maratha history and such movies would not be allowed to be released in the state”. An FIR has been registered by Thane police in a complaint by a businessman who had gone to watch the movie with his wife but was forcibly told to leave the theatre.
The accused were booked under Sections 146 (rioting), 321 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 406 (punishment for breach of trust), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of Maharashtra Police Act.
The former Housing Minister said in a tweet in Marathi on Friday, “At around 1 p.m., a senior police inspector called me and asked to collect the notice. I told them, I am leaving for Mumbai, so I will collect the notice in person. While I was at the police station, I was kept busy and DCP Vinay Rathod arrived, who told me, they have orders to arrest me… This is an abuse of police power. I am ready to fight even if they hang me but, I will not plead guilty to what I did not do.”
Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and president of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Raj Thackeray were present at the time of release of Har Har Mahadev, which is inspired by Maratha commander Baji Prabhu Deshpande’s legendary rearguard battle that enabled Shivaji’s escape from a Sinhala Fort. The movie stars actors Sharad Kelkar, Subodh Bhave, Amruta Khanvilkar, and Sayli Sanjeev and Mr. Thackeray has lent his voice for the film.
