Student assaulted for insisting on reply in Marathi in WhatsApp group; four classmates booked

Mumbai: Four students have been booked, one among them arrested, for allegedly assaulting a classmate in Navi Mumbai after he insisted on communication in Marathi in their WhatsApp group, an official said on Saturday.

In his complaint to the police, 20-year-old Suraj Pawar said he was attacked on Tuesday with a hockey stick outside Motilal Jhunjhunwala College, Vashi, where they study.

The official from the Vashi police station said that Pawar had shared an invite in a WhatsApp group for a family member’s wedding. When his classmate Faizan Naik replied in Hindi, Pawar demanded to know why he had not communicated in Marathi, triggering an argument.

Pawar alleged that Naik and three other classmates targeted him outside their college. They hit him on the head with a hockey stick, he said.

Naik was arrested after an inquiry, the official said. A case has been registered against all four students under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita section 118 (1), which concerns “causing hurt or grievous hurt using dangerous weapons or means”, he added.

The cause of Marathi was reignited in Maharashtra after the state government recently introduced a three-language formula in primary schools. Though the government rolled back its decision amid accusations of attempts to “impose” Hindi, demands were made that those living in Maharashtra learn Marathi.

It even led to assaults on a few non-Marathi speaking individuals by workers of the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS).