NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar has demanded that Pune police withdraw cases filed against protesting Maharashtra Public Service Commission aspirants and register the same charges against him, as the agitation at S M Joshi Bridge entered its 10th day on Saturday.
Pawar visited Vishrambaug police station to question the action against the protesters. He said he had been actively participating in the agitation but had not been named in the cases filed against students and protest organisers.
“I have been sitting with the students for 10 days and speaking more aggressively than anyone else. If the police want to take action, why not act against me instead? Do not put the students’ futures at risk,” Pawar told reporters.
According to Pawar, police registered cases against 15 people on Friday and initiated further action against four others on Saturday over the alleged use of a drone. The source report did not provide details of the sections invoked, the specific allegations against each person, or a response from Pune police to Pawar’s demands.
In a social media post, Pawar questioned the conduct of the Pune police commissioner and accused the police of deliberately targeting students and protest organisers. He also criticised what he described as the branding of students from farming and working-class families as “terrorists and spies”. These statements were made by Pawar and were not independently established in the supplied report.
Pawar urged Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis to intervene and rein in police officials. He demanded that the cases against the students be cancelled and that the same charges be applied to him instead.
The agitation concerns demands for changes relating to the Maharashtra Public Service Commission. Its continuation at S M Joshi Bridge has brought the use of a prominent public location, protest policing and the treatment of competitive-examination aspirants into the centre of the dispute. The reported cases have intensified tensions between the protesters and the authorities.
Pawar said, “Withdraw the action against the students and invoke whatever sections you want against me.” He also accused the government of using the police against young protesters while protecting its own associates, an allegation contained in his statement and not independently confirmed in the source material.
The immediate next steps are expected to involve the police action against the named protesters and the administration’s response to Pawar’s demand for withdrawal of the cases. The supplied report does not state whether the cases will be reviewed or whether the protest organisers have received any formal assurance from the authorities.
