Mumbai:
Mantralaya, the Maharashtra state secretariat in Mumbai, became the site of another shocking protest on Tuesday after a man jumped off the seventh floor of the building and landed on a net installed to prevent suicide attempts. Officials said the man was carrying pamphlets about some property in Nashik, over which there appears to be a dispute
Police said they have rescued the man and are trying to understand why he did what he did. The pamphlets, they added, also had the words ‘inquilab zindabad’ (long live the revolution) written on them.
#WATCH | Mumbai: A man landed on the safety net installed in Mantralaya (the administrative headquarters of Maharashtra govt in Mumbai) after reportedly jumping off the building. Police officials attempt to rescue him. Details awaited. pic.twitter.com/T9BYQzapf9
— ANI (@ANI) February 25, 2025
The incident comes weeks after a face recognition system was installed in the Mantralaya to boost security on the premises and months after then Maharashtra deputy speaker Narhari Zirwal and three other legislators jumped from the third floor to protest the inclusion of a community in the Scheduled Tribes category. They had also landed on the net and been rescued.
Mr Zirwal, who is a member of the Ajit Pawar faction of the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), and the three legislators had carried out their protest jump in October last year. They were opposing the demand for the Dhangar community being included in the Scheduled Tribes category. Police had said they had not suffered any injuries.
The net was installed between the first and second floors of Mantralaya in 2018 after two people had died by suicide and two survived similar attempts in less than a month. Harshal Raote, a 45-year-old murder convict, had jumped off the fifth floor after failing to convince officials to extend his parole. The opposition had then dubbed Mantralaya a “suicide point” and called for stricter security measures.
