Mumbai: Mumbai police have issued show-cause notices to some activists who participated in multiple protests and allegedly mobilised others over the last four months asking them to state why they should not be directed to execute a bond of Rs 50,000 promising good behaviour for one year, backed by a suitable surety, and why proceedings should not be initiated under Section 126 of Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).A notice by itself does not establish guilt. Section 126 empowers executive magistrates or special executive magistrates to take preventive measures to maintain public peace and tranquillity.One of the allegations mentioned in a notice concerned an appeal to gather near Ashoka Pillar at Chaityabhoomi in Dadar on July 20 in support of demands linked to exam paper leaks and calls for the resignation of then Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. The notice also referred to a purported appeal to mobilise supporters at Shivaji Park on Oct 11 to demand the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral fraud. It claimed that these activities had the potential to create law and order problems and threaten public safety. Another allegation related to a protest on Oct 10 near Nana Chowk, close to August Kranti Maidan, where Progressive Students Union’s Samya Korde and Tushar Gandhi, president of Hum Bharat Ke Log, allegedly gathered around 350-400 protesters without permission.The notice to Korde, seeking preventive action over her alleged involvement in organising protests without permission at multiple locations in Mumbai, was issued on Oct 23 by Anurag Jain, special executive magistrate and DCP, central zone-II, Matunga. Wadala TT police submitted a report alleging that she used her social media accounts to mobilise people for protests without obtaining the requisite permissions. The notice claimed the gathering involved sloganeering, obstruction of traffic and inconvenience to commuters, in violation of prohibitory orders issued by the state govt. It also referred to a case registered at Gamdevi police station for unlawful assembly and other offences.Korde told TOI that she had merely exercised her constitutional right to protest. “I will seek legal opinion and respond to the show-cause notice. Social media is a tool that can be used to mobilise people for a protest. How does that make it unconstitutional?” she asked. She said organisers had always informed police before holding protests but had never received permission. “It is police’s responsibility to maintain law and order during a protest. ”Korde alleged selective action by police and cited an instance of an effigy of an opposition party functionary being burnt in the past. She said no action was taken and no one was detained in that case.The notice issued to her said after examining the police report and supporting material, there were grounds to believe that she could engage in similar activities in the future that might disturb public order. It directed her to appear before the court at Matunga police station on the date specified in the notice and submit her explanation within seven days of receipt.Special executive magistrates in Delhi had recently issued notices to Cockroach Janta Party’s Abhijeet Dipke, Saurav Das and Ashutosh Ranka, and Neha Bora of All India Students’ Association to sign peace bonds following their calls for protests into alleged poll fraud.
