Maratha Protests: Internet Ban In Maharashtra Districts, 1st Kunbi Certificate Handed Out — Latest Updates

Maratha Quota Row: Maharashtra Police has arrested 168 persons and registered 141 cases over the protest-related violence, Director General of Police Rajnish Seth said.

New Delhi: Internet services will remain suspended in most parts of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar district, Jalna, and Beed for 48 hours starting Wednesday evening amid violent protests over the Maratha quota, news agency PTI reported. The internet ban will remain effective from 6 pm on Wednesday to 6 pm on Friday. In a bid to maintain law and order and check the spread of rumours, the shutdown will be applicable to talukas of Gangapur, Vaijapur, Khultabad, Phulambri, Sillod, Kannad, Paithan, Soegaon and Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar, except Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar city.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra Police has arrested 168 persons and registered 141 cases over the Maratha quota protest-related violence, Director General of Police Rajnish Seth said, reported PTI. He said notices have been served to 146 persons under section 41 in the CrPC and properties worth Rs 12 crore have been damaged so far.

Here are the key developments:

• Activist Manoj Jarange, who has been staging indefinite hunger strike over Maratha reservation, on Wednesday asked the state government to clarify whether it is willing to provide reservation to the entire Maratha community and why it needs more time in granting quota, PTI reported. He made the remarks after the Maharashtra government held an all-party meeting in Mumbai.


• “I don't want to know the details of what had happened during the all-party meeting. The government says they want time. They should tell us how much time it wants and also tell us what the problem is in giving reservation to the Maratha community. We will then think about it,” PTI quoted Jarange as saying.


• Speaking at the all-party meeting, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said that Maratha reservation should be within the legal framework and that it should not mete out "injustice" to other communities. 


• Meanwhile, a day after the Maharashtra Cabinet accepted the Justice (retd) Sandeep Shinde-led panel on Maratha quota, the first Kunbi caste certificate was issued in Dharashiv district.


• Taking potshots at the Shinde-led dispensation, Nationalist Congress Party (Sharad Pawar faction) leader Supriya Sule said the reservation issue remained unresolved due to "failure" of the "corrupt and bogus" Maharashtra government.


• “It is the failure of the state government to address the issues of the Maratha community. It is this corrupt and bogus triple-engine government that is consistently lying to the people and continues to do so. It was the generosity of Maratha activist Manoj Jarange who gave an additional 10 days to the government,” PTI quoted Sule as saying.