Haji Irfan Solanki (born 5 June 1979) is an Indian politician from Uttar Pradesh, affiliated with the Samajwadi Party. He is the member of the Uttar Pradesh Legislative Assembly from Sisamau Kanpur Nagar. He belongs to the Teli community.^[1]

Incidents of hooliganism

In June 2011, Solanki along with 20 others, forced his way into the office of woman IAS officer Ritu Maheshwari.^[2] He was arrested after a complaint was filed for misbehaving with her,^[3] and this led to his supporters clashing with the police in Kanpur. He later apologized.^[4]

In May 2012, he was travelling in a car with tinted glass windows in the front, which is illegal under a Supreme Court ruling. When stopped by the traffic police in Faridabad, his hoodlums attempted to beat up the police.^[5][6] At the time, the incident was called "major embarrassment to UP Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav, who had promised to end the hooliganism" associated with Samajwadi Party rule.^[7]

He was convicted by session court of desecration of tricolour flag (tiranga jhanda) in tricolour cake cutting case (2011).^[8]

Doctor's assault and statewide hospital closures, March 2014

On 28 February 2014, Solanki and his bodyguards severely assaulted^[9] some junior doctors in Kanpur after a minor traffic accident near GSVM Medical College and the associated Hallett Hospital in Kanpur.^[10] Since it was near their hostel, a large group of students came out, and Solanki fled to a nearby police station. His car was damaged by the students. Subsequently, more than a hundred Samajwadi Party musclemen or goondas (maintained by political parties for instigating violence^[11]) entered the hostel and started beating up students and professors.^[9][12] A large team of policemen led by SSP Yashashvi Yadav entered the campus without attempting to seek permission - apparently they manhandled principal Dr. Navneet Kumar by his collar.^[13] The police beat up the students severely, and arrested 24 junior doctors and none of Solanki's men.^[14] Several students had multiple fractures, at least one had a life-threatening pelvic fracture,^[15] and some were handicapped for life.^[9] The following morning, "shattered laptops, damaged medical books, broken chairs and tables and shattered mirrors" pointed to "the terror unleashed by the cops."^[13]

The magnitude of the violence caused widespread anger in the medical community, and thousands^[14] of doctors across the state decided to strike, protesting the "high-handedness" of the government.^[16] Medical colleges remained closed in Agra, Lucknow, Aligarh and other cities.^[17] Protests were held in AIIMS, Delhi and other parts of India.^[18] The matter was unresolved for four days, during which several dozen patients died.^[19] Intensifying the crisis, three hundred medical faculty resigned from their posts, seeking the release of 24 student doctors.^[17] The Indian Medical Association protested the "barbaric" police action and threatened a country-wide strike on 5 March.^[20] The IMA president, Aarti Lalchandani was threatened by police at her house^[21] and was charged with inciting unrest.^[22] Eventually, the chief minister Akhilesh Yadav met a delegation of doctors and appealed for calm, but no resolution could be reached since Solanki had not been arrested.^[23] Health services in all of Uttar Pradesh had been severely affected.^[24]

On 3 March, the 24 arrested students refused to appeal for bail until action was taken against the police SP Yashashvi Yadav.^[25] Also, another 200 faculty members in the Medical College in Agra resigned.^[23] Talks between the doctors and health minister Ahmad Hasan failed.^[26] The stir caused closures of hospitals in NOIDA, near Delhi.^[27] The prestigious SGPGI, Lucknow was closed since 4 March, and all 800 beds were vacated.^[28]

As the strike continued, opposition parties declaimed the "goonda-raj" in the state, and demanded Solanki's arrest.^[29] A protest march by the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party was dispersed by a police lathicharge.^[30] Party chief and Akhilesh Yadav's father, Mulayam Singh Yadav condemned the manner in which his party was running the government.^[31]

Five days into the conflict, the Indian Medical Association gave a deadline of 48 hours to the government for arresting Solanki and resolving the matter.^[32]

References