A person claiming to be a descendant of Queen of Jhansi, popularly known as 'Jhansi ki Rani', on Tuesday moved the Bombay High Court seeking a direction to authorities to include the Queen's surname in her name inscribed on her statue near Bal Gandharva Theatre in Pune.
The petition was filed by Vivek Tambe, who claimed that he was the fifth descendant of Anant Tambe, a cousin brother of Rani Laxmibai, the Queen of Jhansi. The petitioner, a law student and resident of Vasai in nearby Thane district, said the statue of the erstwhile 'Queen of Jhansi' bore her name as 'Maharani Laxmibai Saheb Jhansi wali'.
It was argued that the surname of the Queen was 'Newalkar' and this was excluded from her name inscribed on the statue in Pune. The petitioner, who argued in person, said that he had written several letters to Pune Municipal Commissioner drawing his attention to the exclusion of the Queen's surname, but they had not responded to his plea.
The petitioner further said that he had also filed an RTI with the Pune Municipal Corporation raising a query as to why the Queen's name ended with "Jhansi wali" instead of her surname 'Newalkar'. However, the civic body did not reply.
The petition came up for hearing before Justices V M Kanade and K R Shriram, who said that it was in the nature of a PIL and hence should be heard by an appropriate bench. The matter would be heard in due course.
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