In Pune, a special court in Kolhapur has placed former journalist Prashant Koratkar in jail for 14 days. He is accused of saying rude things about important figures in Maharashtra’s history, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and his son, Chhatrapati Sambhaji. Koratkar, who lives in Nagpur, was arrested on March 24. He appeared in court via video call because he had a police hearing before that. The police did not ask to keep him longer, so the court decided to keep him in jail for 14 days.
For his safety, Koratkar will be kept in a special cell at Kalamba jail in Kolhapur. There were concerns about his safety after some people tried to disturb him when he was leaving court on March 24. A lawyer also shouted at him on March 28, but thankfully, no one physically hurt him.
Koratkar was arrested after police looked into an audio recording he had with historian Indrajeet Sawant. In that recording, Koratkar is said to have made disrespectful comments. Sawant shared this audio online, which made many people angry and called for Koratkar’s arrest. The police filed a report against him under a law meant to stop hate speech.
Before he got arrested, Koratkar tried to get protection from being arrested until March 1. After his request was denied, the court allowed the police to proceed with the arrest. Koratkar claimed the audio was fake and that he had apologized publicly.
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