A LAWYER representing one of the petitioners who had moved Bombay High Court challenging the state’s decision to grant reservation to the Maratha community, was assaulted by one person outside the court premises on Monday. Advertising Following the incident, the court granted police protection to Gunratan Sadavarte, who was attacked by Vaijanath Mukhane. At the time of going to press, Azad Maidan police station was in the process of filing an FIR against Mukhane, who has been detained. The incident took place when Sadavarte was addressing mediapersons outside the court after the court hearing. A person in the crowd, in a white shirt, suddenly raised the slogan ‘Ek Maratha, Lakh Maratha’ and attacked Sadavarte. The man was pulled away from the lawyer by two persons accompanying Sadaravate. Policemen from the chowki in the HC premises intervened and detained the man, who was later identified as Vaijanath Mukhane. After the incident, Sadavarte returned to the courtroom seeking a hearing before the bench of Chief Justice Naresh H Patil and Justice M S Karnik. He informed the court that he was “assaulted outside the court premises” and that he had “received one thousand threat calls from the time of filing of the petition”. Advertising He also alleged that he had intimated the police about the same on Sunday and Monday morning but was not provided security cover. Following this, the court directed the state to provide police protection to Sadavarte. Sadavarte, in his letter to police commissioner, has said that since he has filed a petition in HC against the Maratha reservation, he has been receiving death threats through phone calls, SMS and on his and his wife’s Facebook accounts. He claimed that the people calling him are saying that they will not give up their lives anymore but are willing to kill for the cause.

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