A lawyer who had filed a petition in the Bombay High Court against the new legislation allowing 16% reservation to the Maratha community in jobs and education in Maharashtra was attacked outside the court on Monday, PTI reported, quoting a police official.

A man shouted a slogan in support of the reservations as he lunged at the petitioner, Gunratna Sadavarte, when he was speaking to media outside the High Court. Police officials and other lawyers at the spot grabbed the man, who was later identified as Vaidyanath Patil from Jalna district. The Azad Maidan Police detained Patil, adding that an investigation was under way.

The lawyer approached the High Court regarding the incident, following which the state government said the lawyer will be provided police protection.

Sadavarte had filed a petition opposing the Maharashtra government’s decision to provide 16% reservation in government jobs and educational institutions to the Maratha community in the state. The petition claimed that the new law was in violation of the Supreme Court’s earlier orders mandating that caste- and community-based reservation in states should not exceed 50%.

Last week, a bench of Chief Justice Naresh Patil and Justice MS Karnik, which was hearing Sadavarte’s public interest litigation, had agreed to a hearing on Monday on all pending petitions on the quota row.