Congress Alleges Tribal Students Detained in Mumbai Ahead of Azad Maidan Protest

The Maharashtra Congress has alleged that Mumbai Police stopped and detained several tribal students in the early hours of Monday, October 5, who had travelled to the city to protest at Azad Maidan demanding the resignation of the State's tribal development minister.

The party said the students had come to protest peacefully and democratically, and condemned what it described as the action taken against them.

According to the Congress, tribal students have been protesting for more than 10 days seeking redressal of demands relating to scholarships and the lack of basic amenities in ashram (residential) schools and hostels, among other issues. Many of them travelled to Mumbai by bus and on foot, the party said, to press for the resignation of the tribal development minister and the department's commissioner, who they say have failed to address their grievances.

The Congress alleged that the students were threatened with police cases and that a bus carrying them was taken into custody. Mumbai Police stopped the students at around 3 a.m., took their photographs and detained them, the party claimed.

Maharashtra is governed by a coalition led by the Bharatiya Janata Party, with Devendra Fadnavis as Chief Minister; the Congress is part of the Opposition in the State. In a statement targeting Mr. Fadnavis, the party said: "Threatening students and using police force instead of seriously considering their issues amounts to suppressing democratic values." It added that the students' voices could not be silenced through threats, and that it would stand with them in the "fight for their legitimate rights".

In a separate statement, Maharashtra Congress president Harshvardhan Sapkal alleged that police used force and attempted to forcibly enter the party's Tilak Bhavan office, where tribal students from Nashik were staying after marching to Mumbai on foot. Police personnel had been entering the office since midnight, threatening the students and attempting to take them into custody, he claimed.

Mr. Sapkal demanded that the police immediately stop what he called illegal entry into the office and attempts to threaten and forcibly detain the students. "It is a serious matter if the police, who are responsible for maintaining law and order, themselves violate the law," he said.

He added that the Congress would not allow any attempt to suppress the voice of tribal students, and said the party stood firmly with them in support of their demands.

The Mumbai Police and the Maharashtra government had not issued a public response to the allegations at the time this report was published. The account of events given here is based on statements issued by the Maharashtra Congress, and the party's claims have not been independently verified.

Azad Maidan in south Mumbai is a designated site for public gatherings, and organisers are ordinarily required to obtain prior permission from the Mumbai Police for protests there. Police in Maharashtra may also take a person into preventive custody under legal provisions that allow such action to prevent a cognisable offence, without formally arresting the individual.

Grievances over ashram schools — residential institutions meant mainly for tribal children — have figured repeatedly in public debate in Maharashtra, with questions raised in the past over funding, staffing, hostel facilities and the timely disbursal of scholarships. Tribal students' organisations have, over the years, petitioned successive governments for improvements in these institutions.