Maharashtra professor attacked and arrested for asking why Shivaji's birthday is celebrated twice

In a bizarre incident, a 38-year-old professor from Maharashtra has been arrested after he questioned as to why is Chhatrapati Shivaji’s birthday celebrated twice a year.

The arrested professor has been identified as Sunil Waghmare. He is the head of department of commerce at the KMC college in Raigad. The incident happened after Waghmare had posted the question on a WhatsApp group, which also had teachers on it.

Notably, Shivaji’s exact date-of-birth is not known and it is celebrated twice a year, in February and March.

After Waghmare posted the question on the group, he was scolded by the group admin Amol Nagargoje. Later that night, Nagargoje deleted the group, however, the news about the conversation had spread by that time.

The next day, Waghmare was attacked by students and professors and was later handed over to the police. He was



arrested and a case has been registered against him under Section 295a (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious beliefs) of the Indian Penal Code.

Nagargoje, who teaches at the same college, is the complainant in the case. He had asked Waghmare to take back his comment on that fateful night but he didn’t. This probably irked the people who got to know about this incident and they took the matter into their own hands and assaulted the 38-year-old.

Nagargoje was reportedly in the staff room when he got to know about the incident. Later, because he was the admin of the group, he was asked by the police to register the complaint.

Waghmare and Nagargoje’s phones have been seized by the police and investigations are on in the matter. Waghmare remains in judicial custody after the court rejected his bail-plea citing a threat to his life outside jail.