More severe agitation will be staged if innocent Vaibhav Raut was not released ! – Agitators warn police and State administration
Nalasopara : ‘We condemn ATS for implicating Vaibhav Raut in false crimes’, ‘Vaibhav Raut is innocent’, ‘Vande Mataram’, ‘Bharatmate cha Vijay Aso’, ‘Desh ka neta kaisa ho, Vaibhav Raut jaisa ho’ were some of the slogans raised by more than 9000 people on 17thAugust who had gathered to show their support to ‘Gorakshak’ Vaibhav Raut. Anti-Terrorist Squad (ATS) has arrested ‘Gorakshak’ Vaibhav Raut under alleged offence of storing explosives; so a march was taken out for condemning such arrest. It may be mentioned that participation of thousands of women taking to streets in his support was quite noteworthy. People participating in ‘Janakrosh’ march warned police and State administration that more severe agitation would be staged if Shri. Vaibhav Raut was not released. Every participant in the march was raising slogans with bottom of his heart, for release of Shri. Raut since he is innocent. Demonstrators were wearing black ribbon as mark of protest. The whole of Nalasopara looked like a police encampment. Police were deployed in large numbers and were guarding at short distances all along the route of protest march. Riot-control squad of police was also deployed at the venue of agitations. ‘Akhil Bharatiya Bhandari Samaj Mahasangh’ and ‘Agri Samaj’ declared their support to ‘Gorakshak’ Shri. Vaibhav Raut.
Shri. Navinchandra Bandiwadekar, national President of ‘Akhil Bharatiya Bhandari Samaj Mahasangh’, Shiv Sena’s former Dy. District-Chief Shri. Shirish Chavan, Shri. Damodar Dass, Chief of ‘Akhil Bharatiya Gou-raksha Dal’ of ISKCON, Shri. Janardan Patil representing Agri community, Shri. Harshad Raut, Shiv Sena’s former municipal councillor, Shri. Pravin Mhapralkar, ‘Nalasopara Vidhan Sabha’ Convener of Shiv Sena, Shri. Shivkumar Pande, a staunch ‘Hindutvavadi’, Shri. Ishwarprasad Khandelwal, the national President of ‘Lashkar-e-Hind’, Shri. Diptesh Patil of ‘Gou-vansh Raksha Samiti’, Shri. Sagar Chopdar, Mumbai District Coordinator of Hindu Janajagruti Samiti (HJS), advocate Khush Khandelwal, BJP’s Shri. Sandip Singh, Dr. Upendra Dahake, BJP’s Vice President for Kalyan city; BJP’s Shri. Narendra Pathak, Palghar District Secretary of North Indian community etc were present on the occasion; besides, large number of office bearers of various pro-Hindu organizations, Sects and local organizations.
Organizations participating in protest march
Agri Sena, Bhandari Samaj, Lashkar-e-Hind, HJS, Sanatan Sanstha, Akhil Bharatiya Bhandari Samaj, residents of Vasai, Virar and Nalasopara. People coming from Palghar, Ramnath (Alibaug) had participated in the march.
People warned of staging more severe demonstrations than the one held today !
Shri. Vaibhav Raut has been working for many years against cow-slaughter. He has always created awareness towards this issue in lawful manner. Shri. Raut is prompt in helping in protection of cows and has never broken any law while doing so. Shri. Raut has lodged more than 35 complaints with police against ‘beef-mafia’. In this background, we firmly believe that Shri. Raut would never be associated with any anti-social or anti-national activities. ATS officers have done few things which were not as per the law; raising doubts about their suspicious behaviour. We therefore, demand inquiry into illegal action taken by police and guilty may be punished. Considering the past history of ATS of hatching plots for implicating ‘Hindutvavadis’ in many cases, innocent Shri. Vaibhav Raut should be released with due honour; else, more severe agitations would be staged. The above warning was given by Vasai Taluka local residents, through this protest march.
Why should we believe in suspicious acts of police ? – Sou. Lakshmi Raut (wife of Shri. Vaibhav Raut)
Sou. Lakshmi, wife of Shri. Vaibhav Raut, said while participating in the march, “Vaibhav Raut has never done any wrong or illegal things. Action is being taken against him only out of ill-will because he has been working for protection of cows. Shri. Raut is being unnecessarily implicated. Police didn’t tell us anything when they came to arrest him. My mother-in-law and I were detained in one room till inquiry was going on. Police came very late in the night. There was no lady-police staff with them. Police didn’t disclose anything even when hundreds of local residents had gathered outside our house; no ‘Panchnama’ was recorded. Why should then we believe in such suspicious acts of police?”
Shri. Vaibhav Raut’s family members, friends, pro-Hindu activists and local residents were present in large number. They too condemned suspicious behaviour of police and demanded inquiry into police action which was outside purview of law so also demanded punishment for the guilty. Shri. Vaibhav Raut has been implicated due to cow-traffickers and this angle should be investigated. Media-trial of Shri. Vaibhav Raut should be stopped.
March was taken out in peaceful manner and no ‘bandh’ was declared still people had closed their shops on their own. People were joining the march in big groups. Participation of women was noticeable.
Sticker and board with matter ‘I support Vaibhav Raut’ on it was attracting attention of people
Everyone had put sticker of ‘I support Vaibhav Raut’. On some stickers, it was written in Hindi as ‘I am also ‘Gorakshak’, I am Vaibhav Raut’. The same matter was written on boards carried by people.
