Raj Thackeray acquitted in 2008 railway exam assault case, ending long-running legal case

Mumbai: A court in Thane on Thursday acquitted Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) founder-president Raj Thackeray in a nearly two-decade-old case related to alleged violence and disruption during a railway recruitment examination.

This brought legal closure to one of the most politically sensitive episodes in Maharashtra’s recent history.

The case dates back to October 2008, when MNS workers staged an agitation at Kalyan railway station in Thane district, where several railway job aspirants, particularly from North Indian states, were allegedly assaulted.

Clashes between the police and agitators were also reported during the protests.

The incident had unfolded barely two years after the formation of the MNS, a party launched by Raj Thackeray on the plank of protecting the interests of the “Marathi manoos”.

At the time, the agitation against the alleged exclusion of local youth from railway recruitment had sharply polarised opinion across the country and triggered a fierce debate on regional identity, migration and employment.

Eight persons, including Raj Thackeray, were named as accused in the case, though two died during the pendency of the trial. Advocate Sailesh Sadekar represented the accused.

The defence argued that there was no evidence — documentary or oral — to establish Raj Thackeray’s presence at the spot during the alleged attacks on candidates who had arrived to appear for Railway Recruitment Board examinations. It also contended that prosecution witnesses failed to identify the accused.

The acquittal is politically significant as the 2008 anti-migrant agitation had become one of the defining moments in the rise of the MNS and helped the party consolidate sections of Marathi youth in urban Maharashtra, particularly in Mumbai, Thane, Nashik and Pune. The protests had also strained relations between Maharashtra and several North Indian states, prompting strong reactions from political parties in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and drawing national attention to questions of linguistic identity and regional employment.

The controversy also led to a wider policy debate over accessibility in recruitment examinations. In subsequent years, several competitive examinations, including railway recruitment tests, began increasingly accommodating regional languages alongside Hindi and English — a long-standing demand raised by regional parties.

Following Thursday’s verdict, the MNS claimed the allegations against Raj Thackeray were false and politically motivated.

“Marathi boys and girls did not get priority in railway recruitment and were not even informed about the examinations being held. Candidates from other states were being brought in and directly recruited, which had created anger among Marathi youth. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena gave voice to that anger,” the party said in a statement.

The party further claimed that the clash erupted after an altercation between MNS workers and an outstation candidate, adding that the court verdict had effectively put to rest what it described as attempts to “trample Marathi identity” through false cases.