A first information report (FIR) has been registered against 12 named accused, including Mahatma Gandhi’s great-grandson Tushar Gandhi, activist Shailendra Kamble, Prakash Reddy and actor Imran Khan, along with 350 others, in connection with Saturday’s protest at August Kranti Maidan in south Mumbai.
The case was registered at Gamdevi Police Station and invokes five sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), relating to disobedience of an order issued by a public servant, wrongful restraint and unlawful assembly.
The sections invoked are Section 223, pertaining to disobedience of an order duly promulgated by a public servant; Section 126(2), pertaining to wrongful restraint; and Sections 189(2), 189(3) and 189(5), which deal with membership of an unlawful assembly, continuing in such an assembly despite an order to disperse, and joining or continuing in an unlawful assembly while armed with a deadly weapon, respectively.
The FIR comes a day after Mumbai Police detained around 600 people during demonstrations planned in solidarity with the Cockroach Janata Party’s (CJP) protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar in New Delhi.
Tushar Gandhi, who heads the civil society organisation Hum Bharat Ke Log, was picked up from Bandra while heading towards August Kranti Maidan, where a solidarity gathering had been planned for 3.30 pm. He was taken to DN Nagar Police Station. Gandhi said on social media that he had been arrested, while the police maintained that he had only been detained.
Shiv Sena (Uddhav Balasaheb Thackeray) leader Aaditya Thackeray visited DN Nagar Police Station to express solidarity with Gandhi.
Police cite lack of permission
Deputy Commissioner of Police, South Zone 2, Ragasudha R, said on Saturday that no application seeking permission for the protest at August Kranti Maidan had been submitted to Gamdevi Police Station.
Senior police officers also maintained that the maidan was not a designated protest venue, citing a Bombay High Court order.
