Mumbai: Mumbai Police has filed a First Information Report (FIR) against the organisers of the protest by the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) and 400-500 people at Shivaji Park on Friday. The case has been registered at the Shivaji Park police station on Saturday.
The protest on October 2 was organised by CJP’s to ask Gyanesh Kumar, the chief election commissioner, to resign. But the demonstration took place despite a ban by senior officers of Mumbai Police to hold a meeting there at Shivaji Park.
The case covers the provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita that deal with the offences of assembling unlawfully and disobeying an order given by a public servant, police said. Part of the Maharashtra Police Act has also been quotes.
It included slogans and announcements, causing traffic-related disruption, the reports said. In injured circumstances, police had issued earlier safety concerns for traffic jam and noise, as well as access for emergency services, to deny permission for it.
Numbers of person participation in the protest have been reported differently. The Mumbai Police estimated the crowds around 4,500-5,000 while organisers said the participation ranged between 35,000-40,000.
The CJP has been protesting the Election Commission’s Special Intensive Revision (SIR) exercise and other concerns regarding electoral roll changes. Allegations of election taint are denied by the government and the Election Commission.
Once the case was registered, ‘the movement will continue’ said Abhijeet Dipke, co-founder of CJP. He said in a post on X that the group would continue to fight regardless of the cases filed against them because of this protest.
As the Mumbai demonstration entered its latest legal phase the FIR has been the latest development, wherein police has now named as accused those behind and unidentified participants of the event.