Maharashtra lynchings: CM announces compensation, 23 suspects held
Mumbai, July 2: With the lynching of five mendicants (bhikshus) on Sunday threatening to snowball into a controversy, the Maharashtra government on Monday announced a compensation of Rs 500,000 to the kin of each victim, and other assistance while at least 23 suspects were arrested.
Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis while making the announcement of compensation, appealed to the people not to get misled by rumour-mongering on social media and to approach police for help instead of taking the law in their hands.
Simultaneously, police in Dhule arrested at least 23 people in connection with the lynching of the five persons in a public place in Rainpada tribal village on Sunday afternoon, sending shockwaves across the state. They have been remanded to police custody till July 6.
All closely related, the victims hailed from Solapur district and belong to the nomadic 'Nath Gosavi'. They were identified as Dadarao Shankar Bhosale, Bharat Shankar Bhosale, Raju Bhosale and Bharat Malve of Khave village and Anagu Ingole of Manewadi village - both located in the Mangalvede tehsil of Solapur.
They were part of a larger group which had come by a state transport bus from Solapur to Dhule to set up their camps on the outskirts of Pimpalner.
When they deboarded in Rainapada village, a weekly tent-market was underway and one of them was espied speaking with a young girl.
This led to rumours that they could be child-kidnappers and a large number of villagers attacked them with sticks, stones and bricks near the Gram Panchayat office.
Earlier on Monday, their kin refused to accept the bodies but were later convinced by the Dhule Collector Rahul Rekhavar and Superintendent of Police M. Ramkumar. The bodies are en route to Solapur for the final rites, said a police official.
"What can we say.. We are poor people, and we have lost everything, even our sole breadwinners. All we want is justice for our people," said a grieving Santosh Bhosale, son of Dadarao, one of the victims.
The families have demanded a case of murder and abetment to murder be lodged against the sarpanch of Rainpada as the attack took place in the gram panchayat office and the cases be tried in a fast track court.
The opposition Congress and Nationalist Congress Party have condemned the incident in strong words, barely two days before the upcoming Monsoon Session of the legislature due to start in Nagpur this week.
State Congress President Ashok Chavan on Monday asked "whether there is rule of law or jungle-raj in Maharashtra" and termed the incident an outcome of the government's negligence.
He said that in recent weeks there have been several such incidents across Maharashtra including Aurangabad, and in Jalna where the local BJP legislator was involved in a similar attack on some persons.
"Rumour-mongering aided by social media is creating panic among the people. They attack any unknown persons who are seriously injured or killed in the mob violence. The government must take strong action," Chavan urged.
Minister of State for Home Deepak Kesarkar, who visited the village on Monday, however said: "This is indeed a very serious issue. We shall go to the root of the issue."
This is not the first incident of lynching due to rumour-mongering in the state in the past few weeks.
At least three persons were killed in two incidents in Aurangabad and several have been injured after brutal attacks on them in Latur, Nashik, Parbhani, Jalna and Nandurbar districts.
In fact, hours after the Dhule lynching on Sunday, a similar case was reported from Malegaon in Nashik when four persons were beaten up and held captive, but police rushed and rescued them
Director General of Police Datta Padsalgikar on Monday issued a stern warning that anybody found indulging indulging in such aggressive behaviour could face murder/attempt to charges and appealed to all people not to become victims of unverified messages/rumours on social media, but report them to police for investigations and action.
Additional DGP Bipin Behari has directed all IGPs and DSPs to compile reports of lynching incidents in the state in the past couple of months for further action and to trace out such messages on social media.
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UK Professor Nitasha Kaul's Overseas Citizenship of India cancelled
Academician decries move as "transnational repression"
London/New Delhi: Professor Nitasha Kaul, a London-based academic, announced on May 18, 2025, via a social media post that her Overseas Citizenship of India (OCI) card has been cancelled by the Indian government. She described the move as a "bad faith, vindictive, cruel example of transnational repression" intended to punish her for her scholarly work critical of the Modi government's policies concerning minorities and democracy.
The cancellation follows an incident in February 2024 when Professor Kaul, who holds a British passport and held an OCI card, was denied entry into India upon arrival at Bengaluru airport. She had been invited by the then Congress-led Karnataka state government to speak at a conference on "The Constitution and Unity in India."
According to an image of the letter shared by Professor Kaul, the Indian government stated that it had been "brought to the notice of the Government of India that you have been found indulging in anti-India activities, motivated by malice and complete disregard for facts or history." The letter further accused her of regularly targeting India and its institutions on matters of India's sovereignty through "numerous inimical writings, speeches and journalistic activities at various international forums and on social media platforms."
Professor Kaul, who is a Professor of Politics, International Relations, and Critical Interdisciplinary Studies and the Director of the Centre for the Study of Democracy (CSD) at the University of Westminster, London, vehemently rejects these accusations. She stated she had provided a 20,000-word response to what she termed the government's "ridiculous inanity about ‘anti-India’," but the OCI was cancelled through a "rigged process."
In her social media posts, Professor Kaul lamented the decision, questioning how the "mother of democracy" could deny her access to her mother in India. She characterized the action as stemming from "thin-skinned, petty insecurity with no respect for well-intentioned dissent."
The February 2024 denial of entry had already sparked controversy. At the time, immigration officials reportedly cited "orders from Delhi" without providing formal reasons, though Professor Kaul mentioned informal references to her past criticism of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). The Ministry of External Affairs had then responded by stating that the entry of foreign nationals into India is a "sovereign decision." Unofficial government sources had indicated that a "preventive lookout circular" was issued against her due to her alleged "pro-separatist" and "anti-India" stance on Kashmir.
The BJP in Karnataka had criticised the state government for inviting her, labelling her an "anti-India element." Conversely, the then-Karnataka government and various international human rights organizations and academic bodies had condemned the denial of entry.
Professor Kaul has been an outspoken commentator on Indian politics, including the abrogation of Article 370 in Jammu and Kashmir, and has testified before international bodies such as the US Congress on human rights in the region. She maintains her work is academic and pro-democracy, not anti-India.
The cancellation of her OCI card effectively bars her from entering India, a country to which she has personal and academic ties. This incident adds to a growing list of academics, journalists, and activists of Indian origin whose OCI status has been revoked or who have been denied entry to India in recent years, raising concerns about freedom of speech and dissent. Reports indicate that over 100 OCI cards were cancelled by the Indian government between 2014 and May 2023. Furthermore, in 2021, new rules were introduced requiring OCI cardholders to obtain special permission for activities such as research and journalism.
