India, July 29 -- Some National Democratic Alliance-ruled states on Tuesday began moving to withdraw police cases filed during recent student demonstrations but almost none of them had yet released the hundreds of protesters who were detained or arrested over the past week.

In Maharashtra, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, who also holds the home portfolio, directed the home department to withdraw first information reports lodged against protesters involved in demonstrations across the state, people aware of the matter said.

Most of the protests were held in Mumbai, Pune and Nagpur on July 23-24 in solidarity with the Cockroach Janta Party's (CJP) agitation at Delhi's Jantar Mantar and against the July 20 police crackdown on demonstrato...