Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader and former Maharashtra minister Jitendra Awhad was arrested on Friday here in connection with the disruption of a show of the Marathi film “Har Har Mahadeo” earlier this week.
Meanwhile, NCP MP Supriya Sule backed the leader and asked the government whether it is against the Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
“Maharashtra will not tolerate the insult of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. If Jitendra Awhad is going to jail for this, we are proud of him and this government should answer on whose side it is. If you are against Chhatrapati then make it clear, then we will fight this battle with full force,” Sule added.
She also said that the cops took action against Awhad because they are pressured from above.
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‘Har Har Mahadeo’ row
Awhad, the MLA from the Mumbra-Kalwa constituency in Thane city, tweeted that he was summoned to the Vartak Nagar police station in the afternoon and put under arrest.
On November 7, Awhad and his supporters barged into a multiplex in the city and stopped a show of “Har Har Mahadev”, alleging that the film distorted the history of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Some cine-goers were also beaten up when they protested against the forcible stopping of the show, video footage of the incident showed.
A First Information Report (FIR) was registered at Vartak Nagar police station under Indian Penal Code sections 323 (assault) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace following the incident.
Awhad was housing minister in the previous Shiv Sena-NCP-Congress government in the state.
