Irfan Solanki

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]

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]