Mumbai: Vaibhav Raut, a member of the Hindutva militant group Sanatan Sanstha, received an grand welcome from a gathering of Hindutva supporters in Nalasopara after being released on bail. Raut had been imprisoned for his alleged involvement in a plot to bomb the Sunburn music festival in Pune in 2017.
Videos circulating online depicted men and women adorned in saffron clothing, dancing to the tunes of a DJ song while welcoming Raut back into the community.
Raut had been held at Arthur Road jail since his arrest by the Maharashtra Anti-Terrorism Squad (ATS) in 2018. Following his arrest in August 2018, law enforcement officers discovered a hidden room in Raut’s house containing a significant cache of arms, including country-made pistols, crude bombs, electronics, airguns, ammunition, and various documents.
The relief for Raut came when a division bench of Justice Revati Mohite Dere and Justice Gauri Godse granted bail. The decision was made on September 20, although the details of the order were made available last Friday. The grounds for his release included the fact that he had been incarcerated for more than five years, and the trial was not expected to conclude in the near future.
A 44-year-old right-wing activist Vaibhav Raut, who was imprisoned in Arthur Road jail in connection with UAPA for allegedly plotting to bomb #Sunburn music festival in Pune in 2017, received a grand welcome in #Nalasopara after Bombay HC granted him bailhttps://t.co/ucTpGUjL3c pic.twitter.com/2Q7x83Qu0x
— Diwakar Sharma (@DiwakarSharmaa) October 13, 2023
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Belagavi (Karnataka), Dec 18: The bill that proposes to replace the Karnataka Governor as chancellor of Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) University with the Chief Minister, was passed in the Karnataka Legislative Council on Wednesday, by one vote.
Having passed by both houses of the legislature, the bill will now have to go before the Governor for his assent to become a law.
Leader of Opposition in the council, Chalavadi Narayanaswamy opposed the bill and demanded for a division of votes during the voting on the bill. Hence, Council Chairman Basavaraj Horatti arranged for row wise headcount of members both in favour of and against the bill.
The division of votes showed 26 votes in favor of the bill, and 25 against it.
The Karnataka State Rural Development and Panchayat Raj University (Amendment) Bill, 2024 passed by the Assembly on Tuesday, seeks to amend the 2016 Act to make provisions for the Chief Minister to be the Chancellor, and for appointment of the vice chancellor by the chancellor from the panel of three persons suggested by search committee.
The Opposition BJP-JD(S) legislators walked out of the Assembly on Tuesday after clashing with the Congress, during the passage of the Bill.
Several opposition members questioned the intention of the government in replacing the Governor as the Chancellor of the university and insisted that the field of education should not be politicised.
JD(S) MLC T A Sharavana said the move seems to be out of hate towards the Governor, and suggested that there should always be a cordial relationship between the government and the Raj Bhavan.
"What the government is going to achieve by keeping the Governor away. CM is always busy politically and administratively. Can he give enough time towards the affairs of the University?" he asked.
BJP MLC C T Ravi questioned whether the Governor was not "cooperative" towards the University's functioning? "What is the intention behind bringing this amendment that was not there when the actual bill was brought a few years ago? Why is the constitutional authority being removed from the Chancellor's post?"
Congress MLC Ivan D'Souza, while defending the bill, said, "In what way the Governor can help the university? If the CM is the chancellor, he can organise funds for the development of the university. Nowhere law stipulates that only the Governor should be the chancellor. States like Gujarat have withdrawn the Governor from Chancellorship of various universities in their state."
Replying to the discussion, RDPR Minister Priyank Kharge said, the bill was not brought with any political malintention or out of any political hatred or to have any confrontation with the Governor.
The bill has been brought in to make the university function more efficiently, to make it coordinate with the government better and, to provide better quality of education and training for youths, he added.
"I have nowhere said that the Governor was not cooperating. As we felt that this is one of the better ways to manage the university, we have brought these amendments. Show me any guidelines including the UGC guidelines which says that only the Governor should be the Chancellor. No such guideline anywhere," Kharge said, pointing out that in various states like Gujarat and Arunachal Pradesh, the Governor has no role in several Universities.