Mumbai: The Hill Line police station of Ulhasnagar on Thursday registered an FIR against Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former housing minister Jitendra Awhad over his allegedly objectionable remarks against the Sindhi community.
On May 27, the NCP's Ulhasnagar district president Pancham Kalani had organised a meeting of party workers. According to a video of the meeting which became viral, Awhad is seen making a highly objectionable remark about the Sindhi community. However, Awhad later clarified that he had not passed any remarks against the community. He said he referred to only one individual. There were also allegations from the NCP that the video was morphed. However, Sindhis of Ulhasnagar and other places protested against Awhad and demanded action against him.
Ulhasnagar unit president of the Bharatiya Janata Party Jamnadas Purswani said since Awhad had hurt the sentiments of the Sindhi community he registered an FIR against him.
R.S. Dhere, senior police inspector at Hill Line police station, said, "Based on the complaint from Purswani, we have registered a case against Awhad under IPC sections 153-A, 153-B, 295-A, and 298."
Earlier on Wednesday, the Sindhi community gathered aggressively in the Kopri area of Thane and protested against Awhad's reported statement. They said unless Awhad apologizes they will continue to protest through constitutional means, including a demonstration in front of his home. Shiv Sena's Prakash Kotwani, Gopal Landge, Hemant Pamnani, and Deepak Ghanshani, along with other prominent members of the Sindhi community of Kopri, were present at this meeting, and officials from other communities were present in large numbers. After this meeting, Gopal Landge, Kotwani, and Ghanshani from the Sindhi community demanded the cancellation of Awhad's MLA membership.
