Mumbai police tell high court communist parties can hold Gaza protest on Aug 20

India Today

19 hours ago

After being questioned by the Bombay High Court, the Mumbai police on Tuesday said that they would permit the Communist Party of India (CPI) and Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPM) to hold a peaceful protest at Azad Maidan, the designated protest area, in Mumbai."The protest will be held on August 20, between 3 and 6 pm, for the protestors to express their thoughts on the genocide purportedly occurring in Gaza," noted the court.advertisementAdditional Public Prosecutor S.C. Gavand submitted that the parties will have to follow the rules of protest as specified under law while protesting at the designated protest area. Senior Advocate Mihir Desai, appearing for the political parties, submitted that the rules will be abided by, and said, "I hope neither of us comes back on the 21st."
Desai had pointed out on Monday that the Pune police had permitted a similar protest, after which the court had directed the Mumbai police to explain why they were not allowing the protest to take place.The parties had approached the court earlier, which had questioned the protest over Gaza and suggested that the parties protest on local issues. The plea was dismissed by the High Court on July 25, after which the political parties issued a press release which some lawyers thought was contemptuous, and had thus approached the court seeking action against them. However, the court refused to take up the issue.Later, the petitioners approached the court again, stating that on June 13, members of these political parties, along with members of other political and civil society organisations, under the banner of the All India Peace and Solidarity Organisation (AIPSO), wanted to protest and had filed an application before the police.This application was rejected by the Azad Maidan police station on June 17, on the grounds that since the protest was with respect to an international issue, there was a possibility that the agenda and activities of the meeting would contradict the international policy of the Indian State. It was also stated that various political, social, and religious organisations had raised objections to the protest, and hence a possibility of adverse law and order issues might arise.The CPI and CPM then filed another application on June 25 before the police, which was also rejected on July 15. Following this, another application was filed on July 19. After this, the parties approached the Bombay High Court, which dismissed their plea.The CPI and CPM stated that the reasons cited by the police were completely untenable, as the agenda of the protest is in consonance with the official stance of the Indian Government, wherein the Ministry of External Affairs has consistently held the view that a ceasefire must be called to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza.- EndsTrending Reel