Maratha protest reaches Mumbai

After carrying out ‘silent morchas’ in interior Maharashtra for over a month, the members of the community on Wednesday reached the doorsteps of the state capital by taking out a morcha in Navi Mumbai.

The protests started in the aftermath of a 17-year-old Maratha girl’s brutal rape and murder in Khopardi in Ahmednagar. The community has also been holding rallies across the state also to demand reservation in education and employment, and scrapping of the SC/ST (Prevention of Atrocities) Act.

Thousands, including women and children, marched from Kharghar to the office of the Konkan Divisional Commissioner, highlighting issues including the Kopardi rape case.

The protestors, clad in black and carrying saffron flags, walked the 6-km stretch from Central Park in Kharghar to Konkan Bhavan in Belapur.

A delegation of five girls from the Sakal Maratha Samaj met the Konkan Divisional Commissioner, Prabhakar Deshmukh and submitted a memorandum demanding strict action against the culprits of the rape.

Educational institutions and the APMC market in the area remained shut and some dealers and workers of the market also participated in the protest march.

The Navi Mumbai police had deployed around 1,000 police personnel along the route to avoid any trouble and to ensure that traffic on the busy Sion-Panvel highway, which leads to Mumbai-Pune Expressway and Mumbai-Goa National Highway, were not affected.