Opposition says it won't go ahead with Maharashtra bandh after HC ruling, but will protest with black flags on Saturday

Police personnel patrol in Badlapur after the city witnessed widespread protests over the sexual assault of two kindergarten children in their school, on Wednesday. Pic/PTI

Opposition leaders and workers will hold peaceful demonstrations and tie black flags and black bands on Saturday as a mark of protest against the Mahayuti government in Maharashtra against the Badlapur sexual assault case, news agency PTI reported.

The Congress said that the opposition decided to retract on its decision of holding a bandh in Maharashtra after the Bombay High Court (HC) ruling. On Friday, HC restrained political leaders from going ahead with the Maharashtra bandh on Saturday or on any future date. A division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Amit Borkar said the Maharashtra government shall take all the necessary steps to prevent a bandh. It further stated that such a protest will paralyse normal life. The court also referred to a 2004 HC ruling which held the enforcement of bandhs or general strikes as unconstitutional.

State Congress president Nana Patole said that the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) leaders and workers will protest against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-Shiv Sena-Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) government with black flags instead. The workers and leaders of the opposition parties will also tie a black band around their mouth at different locations in the state, Patole informed on Friday.

"Respecting the court's view, we will protest peacefully against the state government between 11 am and noon with black flags and tie black bands around our mouth," said Patole. He added that the decision was taken after consulting NCP (Sharadchandra Pawar) state president Jayant Patil and Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray.

The opposition MVA, which consists of the Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray), the Congress and the Sharad Pawar-led NCP (SP), had called for a state-wide shutdown on Saturday to protest against the sexual assault on two kindergarten girls by an attendant at their school in Badlapur in Thane district.

HC took suo motu cognisance of the Badlapur sexual assault case and harshly criticised the police and the school administration during a hearing on Thursday. The court condemned the delay in reporting the incident to the police and the registration of the first information (FIR). It expressed shock that the police recorded the statement of the second girl's parent only after the court intervened. HC also rebuked the police for their lack of seriousness in a case where minors were sexually assaulted in a place that should be safe for students.

(With PTI inputs)