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By:

Quaid Najmi

4 January 2025 at 3:26:24 pm

YouTuber challenges FIR, LoC in HC

Mumbai : The Bombay High Court issued notice to the state government on a petition filed by UK-based medico and YouTuber, Dr. Sangram Patil, seeking to quash a Mumbai Police FIR and revoking a Look Out Circular in a criminal case lodged against him, on Thursday.   Justice Ashwin D. Bhobe, who heard the matter with preliminary submissions from both sides, sought a response from the state government and posted the matter for Feb. 4.   Maharashtra Advocate-General Milind Sathe informed the court...

YouTuber challenges FIR, LoC in HC

Mumbai : The Bombay High Court issued notice to the state government on a petition filed by UK-based medico and YouTuber, Dr. Sangram Patil, seeking to quash a Mumbai Police FIR and revoking a Look Out Circular in a criminal case lodged against him, on Thursday.   Justice Ashwin D. Bhobe, who heard the matter with preliminary submissions from both sides, sought a response from the state government and posted the matter for Feb. 4.   Maharashtra Advocate-General Milind Sathe informed the court that the state would file its reply within a week in the matter.   Indian-origin Dr. Patil, hailing from Jalgaon, is facing a criminal case here for posting allegedly objectionable content involving Bharatiya Janata Party leaders on social media.   After his posts on a FB page, ‘Shehar Vikas Aghadi’, a Mumbai BJP media cell functionary lodged a criminal complaint following which the NM Joshi Marg Police registered a FIR (Dec. 18, 2025) and subsequently issued a LoC against Dr. Patil, restricting his travels.   The complainant Nikhil Bhamre filed the complaint in December 2025, contending that Dr. Patil on Dec. 14 posted offensive content intended to spread ‘disinformation and falsehoods’ about the BJP and its leaders, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi.   Among others, the police invoked BNSS Sec. 353(2) that attracts a 3-year jail term for publishing or circulating statements or rumours through electronic media with intent to promote enmity or hatred between communities.   Based on the FIR, Dr. Patil was detained and questioned for 15 hours when he arrived with his wife from London at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj International Airport (Jan. 10), and again prevented from returning to Manchester, UK on Jan. 19 in view of the ongoing investigations.   On Wednesday (Jan. 21) Dr. Patil recorded his statement before the Mumbai Police and now he has moved the high court. Besides seeking quashing of the FIR and the LoC, he has sought removal of his name from the database imposing restrictions on his international travels.   Through his Senior Advocate Sudeep Pasbola, the medico has sought interim relief in the form of a stay on further probe by Crime Branch-III and coercive action, restraint on filing any charge-sheet during the pendency of the petition and permission to go back to the UK.   Pasbola submitted to the court that Dr. Patil had voluntarily travelled from the UK to India and was unaware of the FIR when he landed here. Sathe argued that Patil had appeared in connection with other posts and was not fully cooperating with the investigators.

Konkan’s Election Dilemma: Progress or Preservation? 

Updated: Oct 22, 2024

Konkan

The Chipi Airport, a gleaming gateway to Sindhudurg district which was inaugurated in 2021, has inspired hopes of an economic transformation in the Konkan region. For decades, locals have migrated to Mumbai and Pune in search of better employment opportunities, but the promise of economic growth, driven by enhanced connectivity, has kindled optimism.


Yet as the region prepares for the Assembly polls on November 20, the airport is but one part of a mosaic of political and economic issues. In every election cycle, voters in this coastal stretch of Maharashtra grapple with a familiar dilemma: the potential benefits of development versus the costs to their cherished natural environment. The potential for new jobs and entrepreneurial ventures in tourism and agriculture offers a tantalizing glimpse of a future in which the Konkan need not rely solely on its distant cities for prosperity.


While Chipi heralds new opportunities, the larger debate on development in the Konkan revolves around more controversial projects, none more divisive than the Ratnagiri Refinery and Petrochemicals Ltd (RRPCL). The proposed mega-refinery at Barsu, projected to bring investment and thousands of jobs to the region, has instead ignited fierce protests.


The ruling Mahayuti coalition led by Chief Minister Eknath Shinde and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) had largely remained cautious over openly discussing the refinery during the Lok Sabha polls even when both Shinde and Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis had expressed keenness in reviving the Rs. 3.5 lakh crore oil refinery project at Nanar which the opposition Uddhav Thackeray-led Shiv Sena (UBT) has strenuously opposed.


The refinery project had earlier been scrapped by then CM Fadnavis (2014-19), following opposition from the BJP’s then ally, the Thackeray’s undivided Shiv Sena. Thackeray’s Sena (UBT) has now positioned itself as the guardian of the environment, calling for sustainable development that aligns with local sentiment.


The Konkan’s environmental credentials are strong, and its history of opposing large industrial projects, such as the Dabhol power plant and the Jaitapur nuclear project, remains fresh in the minds of its people. Anti-refinery protestors argue that their livelihoods, rooted in agriculture and fishing, would be irrevocably harmed by pollution from the refinery, just as previous generations fought to protect the region from industrial encroachment.


The BJP’s strongman in this region is Narayan Rane, the Union Minister for Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises, who had won the Ratnagiri-Sindhudurg Lok Sabha constituency in the general election in June by trouncing the Shiv Sena (UBT)’s candidate and former MP Vinayak Raut.


Rane has championed industrial development, but even his stance on the refinery remains carefully calibrated to avoid alienating local voters.


Then again, besides big industrial projects, many Konkan residents demand more investment in sectors like agro-processing, fisheries and eco-tourism (for which the region offers ample opportunities) to ensure sustainable, long-term growth.


Konkan’s voters want growth, but they demand that it comes on their terms. In this election, as in many before it, the question remains can Maharashtra’s leaders deliver progress without sacrificing the natural and cultural wealth that makes the Konkan unique?

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