Protest Watch – Curfew in Maharashtra’s Jalna

The district administration of Ambad Taluka of Jalna district in Maharashtra imposed a curfew when the Maratha reservation protests turned morbid with the protesters setting a state transport bus on fire at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Chowk of Tirthpuri city in Jalna. The Maratha quota agitation is led by the activist Manoj Jarange Patil who is demanding that the Marathas get reservation within the OBC (other backward caste) ambit. The Supreme Court had struck down a previous order by the state government granting a ten per cent standalone quota to Marathas in government jobs and education in 2021, stating that it breached the fifty per cent reservation cap.
Jarange’s continuous push for the implementation of the Shinde government’s “Sage Soyare” notification has irked the government. The notification enables Marathas to get reservation within the OBC quota through recognition of their blood/marital relations with the Kunbis who already benefit from the OBC quota system.

The current curfew will be enforced from 26th February (today) midnight considering Jarange’s declaration of his intention to travel to Mumbai and agitate outside the deputy chief minister’s house. He is currently conducting a hunger strike in Antarwali Sarati village of Jalna and the curfew order under CrPC section 144(2) comes in anticipation of large crowds gathering in the village to prevent his Mumbai march. The curfew is accompanied by an order to ban the internet in Jalna, Beed and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar districts of Maharashtra.

The potential gathering can disrupt traffic on Dhule-Mumbai highway and surrounding areas in Jalna, Beed and Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar. Essential services such as government offices, schools, movement on national highways, milk distribution, media, and hospitals remain exempt from this curfew.