Row over videos of Virar college dandiya prog
MUMBAI, Oct. 1 -- Navratri festivities at a Virar college took a controversial turn when a male student uploaded videos of young women playing dandiya, giving the incident a communal twist. Bolinj police on Tuesday registered a First Information Report (FIR) against the student of Viva College in Virar west, for posting videos accompanied by objectionable comments.
According to the Bolinj police, the garba was organised by the college along with the Gujarathi Mitra Mandal and U238. Police said the chats accompanying the video had been posted by a student and another individual, both Muslims. The chats had referred to the girls being "tortured". The incident took place on September 26 and the FIR was registered on Tuesday.
Giving the incident a communal tone, BJP Yuva Morcha state secretary Ashok Shelke on Sunday claimed that dandiya is "only for Hindus". However, former MLA Hitendra Thakur, a trustee of the college, said garba is open to all.
Later, Thakur registered the FIR with the Bolinj police and said, "The garba event has nothing to do with the college. This event has been arranged by a private organisation and is only being held in the college premises. Garba is open to all religions and it is wrong to ban anyone."
"Based on the complaint, a case has been registered under Section 296 (which relates to obscene acts or utterances) of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita, and Section 66 (a), 66 (d) of the Information Technology Act," said Prakash Sawant, inspector (crime) at the Bolinj police station.
Local BJP leaders have since started a campaign on social media, reiterating that garba is "only for Hindus"....
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