CJP convenor booked over Latur school entry

IPA Staff
5 Min Read
Cockroach Janta Party convenor Abhijeet Dipke, party worker Ajinkya Shinde and several others have been booked in Maharashtra’s Latur district for allegedly entering a government school without permission, disrupting classes and threatening teachers.

The First Information Report was registered at Ausa police station following a complaint by Sayyed Shamshadbano Khairatali, 53, a teacher at the Zilla Parishad Urdu School in Jawali near Ausa. Police have begun an investigation into the allegations arising from the CJP’s visit to the school on August 20.

The complaint alleges that Dipke and his associates entered the school premises without securing prior permission, sat among students and questioned them while classes and official work were under way. They are also accused of filming the interaction and subsequently circulating footage on social media.

The FIR invokes Sections 132, 329, 351 and 356 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, covering allegations including use of force or assault to deter a public servant from performing official duties, house trespass, criminal intimidation and criminal defamation.

Police have treated the allegations as matters requiring investigation, and the registration of an FIR does not establish guilt. The precise roles of the individuals named or referred to in the case will form part of the inquiry.

The confrontation came during Dipke’s tour of government schools in Latur district under the CJP’s “School Thik Karo” campaign, an initiative through which the organisation has sought to highlight shortcomings in government-run educational institutions.

Dipke visited schools in the Ausa area on August 20 and raised a series of allegations about infrastructure, sanitation and administration. He claimed some children sitting in classrooms were not enrolled at the school and questioned why they were present during his visit. He also alleged that liquor bottles had been found on school premises and criticised the availability of drinking water and the condition of toilets and buildings.

Those assertions have not been independently established. The police case, meanwhile, centres on the manner in which Dipke and his associates allegedly entered the Jawali school and interacted with students and staff.

The complainant alleged that the visitors interfered with educational and government work and that Dipke threatened to have teachers suspended. She also objected to claims that pupils from another institution had been brought into classrooms, alleging that such statements damaged the reputation of the school.

Dipke’s campaign has placed conditions in government schools at the centre of the CJP’s expanding political activism. During his Latur programme, he demanded action against education officials whom he held responsible for inadequate facilities and called for Maharashtra School Education Minister Dada Bhuse to resign over the condition of government schools.

The dispute illustrates the tension developing around activist inspections of public institutions. Campaign groups argue that direct visits, documentation and publication of conditions can expose failures that may otherwise receive little attention. School authorities, however, have responsibilities involving student safety, privacy, uninterrupted teaching and controlled access to campuses.

The case is therefore likely to turn partly on whether the group had authorisation to enter the premises and whether its conduct amounted to obstruction, intimidation or trespass under the provisions cited by police. Investigators may also examine video recordings from the visit, statements from teachers and other staff, and material circulated online.

CJP has emerged as a highly visible youth-oriented political movement, using public campaigns and social media to focus attention on education, examinations and institutional accountability. Dipke has become one of its most prominent figures, while the organisation has so far positioned itself primarily as an activist platform rather than pursuing an immediate electoral role.

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