The Juhu police denied permission for an event where Dalit political leader Jignesh Mevani, JNU student leader Umar Khalid and others were supposed to speak on Thursday morning.
The event ‘Rashtriya Chattra Sammelan’ is an annual conference of Chattra Bharti, a students organisation. Mevani and Khalid along with MLC Kapil Patil, Allahabad student union leader Richa Singh and several others are supposed to be a part of the event which was scheduled to take place at the Bhaidas Hall in Vile Parle between 11 am to 6 pm on Thursday.
While the organisers got permission for the venue, on Thursday morning the Juhu police sealed the auditorium and did not allow entry to any of the students. “We were told that with the ongoing tensions the police have applied Section 144(unlawful assembly) of the IPC and were thus denied permission. However, despite all this, we would go ahead with the event even if it means doing it on the street” said Sagar Bhalerao from Chattra Bharti.
“We have denied permission considering, law and order situation and have issued notice under section 149 of CRPC”, said Sunil Ghosalkar, Senior Police Inspector of Juhu Police Station