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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.

Relief as Maha yanks off diktat

Mumbai: Providing a huge relief, the Maharashtra government has yanked off the contentious ‘One State, One Uniform’ policy for schools in the state, earning pats from academics and parents alike.


The state education department has announced that the local School Management Committee (SMCs) shall now decide the colour combination and designs for the children attending their schools.


The move has been welcomed by school associations and parents alike, with demands for more reliefs to over 10-lakh students who have secured admissions under the RTE Act in the state.


In its fresh GR, the education department has allowed the SMCs to decide on the colour-design, stitching-distribution of uniforms for their respective schools as per the prescribed policy, as it was done earlier for decades.


Last December 2024, the government had mandated the SMCs to manage the process locally without changing the colour-design of the uniforms, as per the policy that was implemented in the current (2024-2025) academic year.


The students attending government schools in the state are entitled to free uniform sets under the state-centre’s jointly-funded Samagra Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA).


The GR has cleared the path for the SMCs to continue the process as before for which funds shall be provided on time for the regular uniforms as the Scouts & Guides uniforms, ensuring good quality fabric that is not fully polyester and doesn’t cause health problems to the pupils.


It has warned of surprise checks on the quality of the uniform, and in case quality defects are detected, the SMC shall be accountable.


Flawed policy

Maharashtra English School Trustees Association (MESTA) Founder-President Sanjay Tayade-Patil said that the policy (initiated by former school education minister Deepak Kesarkar) was flawed, bypassing other more important requirements.


“Economically backward students admitted under the RTE policy are not getting free uniforms, books, shoes and other requirements, in many schools they are also deprived of the midday meal schemes. The government should takle this discrimination on priority,” Tayade-Patil told ‘The Perfect Voice’.


A school Trustee, requesting anonymity said that many schools did not get the promised uniforms till the Diwali vacation and students had to make do with whatever was available, besides widespread complaints on the fabric quality, poor stitching, uneven size, rendering them virtually un-wearable.


Welcome decision

A Mumbai housewife, Neelama Joshi, whose two minor children attend a Marathi aided school, expressed a similar grouse, saying she was forced to stitch and re-stitch her kids’ uniforms almost every fortnight, and the fabric would easily tear.


Other bodies like the Maharashtra School Principals Association, Maharashtra State Primary Teachers Association, Maharashtra Unaided Schools Association have hailed the government’s move saying it will restore the autonomy of the educational institutions.


“This would also bring back the unique ‘uniform identity’ of the children of the respective schools, particularly in areas where there are clusters of such educational institutions, help the school-bus drivers and parents distinguish their kids by their uniforms,” said a retired school headmistress, Usha S. N. of Goregaon.

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