In its ruling on Friday the Bombay High Court held that no political party or individual would be allowed to call a bandh in Maharashtra. A bench comprising of Chief Justice Devendra Kumar Upadhyaya said that the court will ‘restrain’ political parties from going ahead with the ‘Maharashtra Bandh’. This order came in the wake of the opposition Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) call for a bandh on August 24 to protest an alleged sexual assault on two young girls at a school in Badlapur, Thane district. On August 17 this year, the police arrested a school attendant for sexually assaulting two, kindergarten girls inside the school toilet. The girls’ parents as claimed by the opposition parties were detained for 11 hours at the Badlapur police station before their grievances were considered. Thousands of protesters reacted by placing themselves on the railway track at Badlapur station and vandalizing the school buildings on Tuesday for the victims.
