Cop suspended for failing to act after ABVP, BJYM members damage notice board at Pune varsity

Pune: A police sub-inspector has been suspended after he allegedly failed to act when members of the BJYM and ABVP threw ink and damaged a notice board at the Lalit Kala Kendra on the Savitribai Phule Pune University premises, an official said.

The policeman was deployed on the university campus in Maharashtra in the wake of a scuffle between the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) activists and students of the Lalit Kala Kendra over a play on Friday evening.

On a complaint by the RSS-affiliated ABVP, a professor and five students were arrested on Saturday for allegedly hurting religious sentiments by staging the play concerning 'Ramleela' that reportedly had objectionable dialogues and scenes.

On Saturday evening, some members of the ABVP and the BJP-linked Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) entered the Lalit Kala Kendra premises raising slogans and damaged a notice board and threw ink on it, the official said on Sunday.

While sub-inspector Sachin Gadekar, attached to the Chaturshringi police station, was deployed there, he did nothing to control the situation, the senior police official said.

“Being a responsible officer, he should have acted. However, he neither called for help nor alerted the seniors. This amounts to dereliction of duty. The officer has been suspended for his act,” said the official.

The play by the Lalit Kala Kendra, officially called the Centre for Performing Arts, was based on the backstage banter of actors who perform various roles in 'Ramleela'.

As per the First Information Report (FIR) registered against the professor and students, in the play, a male artiste portraying Sita was shown smoking a cigarette and using abusive language.

The FIR stated that when members of the ABVP took objection to the play and stopped the performance, the artistes heckled and assaulted them.