MUMBAI: The Shivaji Park police on Saturday registered an FIR against supporters of the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) for allegedly holding an unlawful assembly, raising slogans, disrupting the smooth flow of traffic and using loudspeakers without permission during a protest at Shivaji Park on Friday.
CJP supporters were pretesting demanding resignation of CEC Gyanesh Kumar over concerns surrounding the Election Commission and SIR.
According to the police, around 400 to 500 unidentified supporters and protesters, including CJP members Ajinkya Shinde, Pranay Ahire, Ashutosh Ranka, Abhijeet Dipke,
Saurav Das, Afreen Nawaz, Soumya Korde, Ankit Bhardwaj, Vijay Malangi and Yogesh Ingale, gathered at Gate No. 6 of the Shivaji Park grounds, in front of the Meenatai Thackeray Memorial in Dadar West.
The gathering began around 2pm and continued until 7pm, police said.
According to the FIR, the protesters gathered on a public road, allegedly obstructed traffic and raised slogans, leading to a law-and-order situation.
Police also alleged that loudspeakers were used to address the gathering without the required permission.
The FIR has been registered under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), including those relating to unlawful assembly and disobedience of a lawful order, along with provisions of the Maharashtra Police Act.
Shivaji park resident and advocate Siddhi Deolekar too filed a police complaint against Abhijeet Dipke and others alleging illegal gathering and protest.
Deolekar said she lodged the complaint against Dipke, Ashutosh Ranka, Saurav Das and Ratna Singh, alleging that they proceeded with the protest and attempted to gather a large crowd despite not having any required permissions.
The CJP had organised a ‘Jail Bharo’ protest on Friday, demanding the immediate resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, amid reports of differences within the Election Commission.
CJP founder Abhijit Dipke also challenged Maharashtra chief minister Devendra Fadnavis over police warnings against unlawful assembly.
“Chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, you spoke about putting us in jail for just three days. Had you said three months, the whole of Mumbai would have been brought to a complete standstill,” Dipke said.
Despite heavy police deployment and denial of formal permission for the protest at Shivaji Park, a large number of citizens and supporters gathered at the venue.
Slogans targeting the Central government and the Election Commission were raised during the demonstration.
Dipke criticised Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union home minister Amit Shah, chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and chief minister Devendra Fadnavis during his address.
He also praised the Mumbai Police while contrasting their handling of the protest with that of the Delhi Police.
Dipke formally launched the ‘Jail Bharo’ call and said that peaceful assembly in defence of voting rights was a fundamental constitutional right.
Public figures, intellectuals and Bollywood personalities, including actor Shabana Azmi, musician Vishal Dadlani and actor Naseeruddin Shah, attended the event and spoke about voting rights and democratic institutions.
Actor Prakash Raj extended his support through a recorded video message, urging citizens to safeguard democratic values.
