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Mumbai Activists Allege Detention; Police Call It Routine Inquiry
Two activists in Mumbai said police took them to a station and questioned them for more than three hours.
They said police asked if they would travel to Delhi for a protest.
One activist said he was told not to leave Mumbai for two days.
The police said the activists were not detained and had only been called in for questions.
A civil society group said this treatment could interfere with their rights to travel and protest peacefully.
The protest in Delhi is planned for Saturday.
Its organizers are demanding changes to the way elections are handled, including ending an electoral revision exercise and the Chief Election Commissioner’s resignation.
Two Mumbai activists said police questioned them for more than three hours at the MIDC police station on Thursday.
They said officers asked whether they planned to travel to Delhi for a protest and told one activist not to leave Mumbai.
MIDC police denied detaining them, saying they had been called in for a routine inquiry.
Hum Bharat Ke Log and Tushar Gandhi said the questioning infringed the activists’ rights to movement and peaceful assembly.
The Delhi protest, planned for Saturday, is seeking electoral reforms, including scrapping the SIR exercise and the Chief Election Commissioner’s resignation.
- Who
- Activists Salim Saboowala and Feroze Mithiborwala; MIDC police; and the civil society group Hum Bharat Ke Log.
- What
- The activists alleged they were detained and questioned about a planned Delhi protest; police described it as a routine inquiry.
- Where
- The MIDC police station in Andheri, Mumbai; the planned protest is in New Delhi.
- When
- Thursday; the protest is planned for Saturday, October 10.
- Why
- Police questioned the activists about whether they planned to attend a protest calling for electoral reforms.
Activists and civil society group
MIDC police
Whether the activists were detained
Activists and civil society group
The activists said they were taken to the station and held for more than three hours.
MIDC police
A senior MIDC officer denied they were detained and said they were called in for an inquiry.
Reason and rights implications
Activists and civil society group
The activists said they were questioned about attending the Delhi protest, and Hum Bharat Ke Log called the police action an infringement of movement and assembly rights.
MIDC police
Police said they only questioned the activists as part of a routine inquiry.
Key facts
- Activists
- Salim Saboowala and Feroze Mithiborwala
- Police station
- MIDC police station, Andheri
- Duration alleged
- More than three hours
- Police account
- The two were called for a routine inquiry; police denied detaining them.
- Planned protest
- Saturday, October 10, in New Delhi
- Protest demands
- Electoral reforms, including scrapping the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
- Rights concern
- Hum Bharat Ke Log said the questioning infringed freedom of movement and peaceful assembly under Article 19 of the Constitution.
Quotes
Senior MIDC police station officer
Police officer who denied that the two activists had been detained.
“On Tuesday, they called me to ask whether I was travelling to Delhi. I was with my brother, who was unwell. They came to my building at noon on Thursday and asked me to come downstairs, where they were waiting in plain clothes.”
freepressjournal.in
“The two were called for a routine inquiry. How can we detain anyone? We only questioned them.”
freepressjournal.in
Tushar Gandhi and Hum Bharat Ke Log
Gandhi is associated with the civil society group Hum Bharat Ke Log.
“This is a clear infringement of their fundamental rights to freedom of movement and peaceful assembly guaranteed under Article 19 of the Constitution.”
freepressjournal.in
Sources
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