Two students booked on charge of playing song based on Maoist Hidma

Pune: The Vishrantwadi police on Wednesday registered a case of assertions prejudicial to national integration against two students for playing and dancing to a song based on Hidma Madavi, the Naxalite commander gunned down last year by security forces.

"The two students, pursuing BBA course in a college on Bund Garden Road, had selected the song. They are from Gadchiroli. Seven others danced to its tune," said deputy commissioner of police (Zone IV) Chilumula Rajnikanth.

"We are checking with whom these two students were in touch, why they selected this particular song and what was their motive in selecting it. We are verifying their social media profiles and other details," Rajnikanth said.


Vishrantwadi police constable Shabbir Baba Shaikh (31) lodged the complaint against the two students under sections 197 (making, publishing or propagating claims that a specific group is disloyal to the Indian Constitution or sovereignty) and 353 (spreading false information, rumors, or reports) of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.

The students played and danced to the song on Hidma, the battalion commander of People's Liberation Army eliminated during an operation in Nov 2025, during a cultural programme organised at Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Government Hostel in Vishrantwadi on April 11.

Senior inspector Mangesh Hande of Vishrantwadi police said, "A total of nine students — the two from Gadchiroli who selected the song and seven from other parts of the state — participated in the dance performance during the cultural programme at the hostel in Vishrantwadi. Some of them didn't even know what the song was about. Everyone believed that it was a tribal folk song."

Hande said, "It was not a public event. The function was strictly for the students of the hostel."

According to the police, various sports and cultural programmes were organised on the hostel grounds from April 6 to 14 to mark the 135th birth anniversary of Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar. During the April 11 event, the students performed a dance to the song based on Hidma. The complaint states that this act could threaten India's sovereignty, unity and integrity, and involved the creation and dissemination of misleading and objectionable content.Get real-time updates and result insights on the CBSE 12 Result 2026.