Police registers case against MP Imtiaz Jaleel for holding candle rally without permission

A case was registered by the police against Aurangabad MIM MP Imtiaz Jaleel and protesters for not seeking permission for taking out a candlelight rally on Thursday to protest against the change of names of Aurangabad and Osmanabad to Sambhajinagar and Dharashiv respectively.

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad): The police on Friday registered a case against MIM's Maharashtra president and MP from Aurangabad, Imtiaz Jaleel and other activists for taking out a candle march on Thursday in city chowk area without seeking permission. The rally was taken out to protest against renaming of Aurangabad to Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.

A chain hunger strike has been started by the Anti-Name Change Action Committee in front of the Collector's office for the last seven days. A candle march was taken out on Thursday as a part of their movement. Thousands of people walked from the Collector's office to Bhadkhal Gate holding candles in protest. Although the candle march was pre-planned, the organisation had not taken any permission from the police. So, a case was registered against 1,000 to 1,5000 protesters, who participated in the rally, along with MP Jaleel. The police said further action would be taken after investigating into the matter.

Jaleel alleged that the names of the cities were changed on the request of the political leaders without seeking opinion of the common people. After the candle march, the Anti-Name Change Action Committee appealed to people, who were against the renaming to close down their shops. The protesters have also threatened to intensify their movement by holding more such demonstrations.

Earlier, AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi had asked Jaleel to take up a protest against the government's move to change names of cities as majority of the citizens were opposing it. Jaleel had said that the government was sending a wrong message to the people of being above the law. He said that a city's name can be changed, but one cannot erase its history.