Nagpur: FIR against BJP workers over loud DJ at MLA Mohan Mate's Dahi Handi event
Police booked organisers of MLA Mohan Mate's Dahi Handi event in Nagpur after a DJ system blared past permitted decibel levels despite repeated warnings.
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A Dahi Handi competition is held every year at Chhota Tajbagh Chowk in Nagpur. The organising committee includes young BJP leaders and workers, but it is widely known that the event actually belongs to MLA Mohan Mate. This year too, the event was held on Sunday evening.
CP Vishwas Nangare Patil had already banned beam and laser lights and directed the department to strictly enforce the Noise Pollution Act. But the mood at this event was different. A DJ system was played at high volume, along with lights.
When police reached the spot and asked the organisers and the sound system operator to lower the volume, MLA Mohan Mate himself challenged them over the microphone. Police were stopped from going near the DJ system and the stage.
Mate said clearly on the microphone that no policeman would touch the DJ, no policeman would go near the stage or the DJ, and the volume would not be lowered. After this, police checked the sound level with a machine twice. Both times the sound exceeded 100 decibels.
Because of the large crowd, police did not shut down the DJ at that time. At 10 pm, they asked for the sound system to be switched off, but the organisers did not comply. The DJ kept playing until 10:30 pm, and there was also an argument with the police.
On Tuesday, a case was registered against the organisers under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the Maharashtra Police Act and the Environment Protection Act, based on a complaint by Sub-Inspector Sachin Phunde. The case was registered two days after the incident, even though the event was permitted only until 10 pm and the DJ continued playing after that while police watched helplessly, and the Dahi Handi event was completed with much fanfare.
Those named among the accused include BJP Yuva Morcha members Kuldeep Mate, Arpit Malghate, Ketan Sathavane, Akshay Kharabe, Uday Dhomne, Rajesh Kale, Vijay Thakur, Ankush Bhure, Aryan Palandurkar, Suraj Bansod, Chetan Rathod, Aniket Sable and others.
The event draws a large crowd every year, especially among young people in Nagpur, which is why police had already deployed personnel at the venue in advance. When the sound was measured with equipment at the spot, its intensity was found to be far above the permitted limit.
