Maha: Bombay HC Ruling a Gain for Democratic Rights
Vivek Monteiro
IN proceedings in the Bombay High Court on August 12, the Mumbai police granted permission to the petitioners CPI(M), CPI and AIPSO to hold a peaceful assembly at Azad Maidan, Mumbai on August 20, for articulating the demand that Israel end its genocide at Gaza , and to express solidarity with the people of the State of Palestine.
Permission to hold such a demonstration on June 18 for ending Israel’s ongoing genocide at Gaza was first denied by the Mumbai police on June 17 and thereafter on three more occasions on July 15, July 31, and August 8. Each request for permission was responded with prohibitory notices under section 168 of the BNSS and other sections of law.
On the night of June 17 and in the early hours of June 18, police stations all over Mumbai were mobilised to detain the signatories of the letter for permission and leading activists of the participating organisations. The Mumbai police were evidently under strict instructions to thwart any demonstration from taking place at all on June 18. However, several leading activists, including this writer, successfully evaded the police dragnet and conducted the protest at the appointed time just outside the Azad Maidan. They were arrested and taken to the Yellow Gate police station far away from the venue.
The CPI(M) and CPI jointly filed its first writ petition on July 10 on this issue which was decided on July 25. While orally pronouncing the order on July 25, the bench had passed certain comments about the two petitioner parties, which were reported by several news publications which covered the court proceedings. As reported in the legal press like Bar and Bench, the court had observed: “Show patriotism for the citizens of our own country first…Our country has enough issues to deal with. We do not want anything like this. I am sorry to say that you are short sighted. You are looking at Gaza and Palestine while neglecting what’s happening here. Why don’t you do something for your own country? Look at your own country…be patriots. This is not patriotism...” The judges reportedly, further observed “You don’t know the dust it could kick up. Getting on to the Palestine side or the Israel side. Why do you want to do this? Its obvious going by the party you represent, that you don’t understand what this could do to the foreign affairs of the country… You are an organisation registered in India. If you could take up issues like garbage dumping, pollution, sewerage, flooding. We are just giving examples. You are not protesting on those, but on something that is happening thousands of miles away from the country.”
These comments were promptly critically responded to by the CPI(M) Polit Bureau in its statement on June 25 itself. Several articles in the print media also took a critical view of the reported comments.
When the final signed order was issued on July 30, it did not include any of the reported comments of the July 25th court proceedings . In fact, the order pointedly and respectfully referred to the Petitioner no 1, Communist Party of India (Marxist) as “a renowned and respected political party, and petitioner No 2, the Communist Party of India “which was founded on December 26, 1925 in the Kanpur (Cawnpore) conference.”
The July 25th order directed the Mumbai police to decide the application of the petitioners on its own merits.
Subsequently, in the intervening period, a public demonstration in solidarity with Palestine was peacefully conducted in Pune by various organisations on August 3, with police permission. This was brought to the notice of the judges on August 11.
On August 4, the same division bench of the Bombay High Court rejected the prayer made by Senior Advocate S M Gorwadkar that the court should suo moto initiate contempt proceedings against the petitioners for their press notes which were issued in response to the media reports of the court proceedings on July 25.
The Mumbai police rejection of a fresh application for permission led to the second writ petition which was heard on August 11 and 12.
On August 12, the counsel for the Mumbai police stated that permission would be granted to hold the public assembly at Azad Maidan on August 20, between 3 pm and 6 pm. This major victory is the outcome of systematic and sustained joint efforts of the petitioners.
The petitioners issued a joint press statement welcoming the August 12th order of the Bombay High Court and stating that “It has nipped in the bud concerted attempts being made by some vested interests to restrict the democratic rights and democratic spaces available to citizens under the Indian Constitution.”
The August 12th order of the Bombay High Court is an important gain for the democratic movement. The BJP led government in Maharashtra has taken several steps to curtail democratic rights of citizens in recent months. The August 12th court judgement is a slap in the face of this unholy alliance of communal politics and a pliant bureaucracy. It will help to unravel and dismantle the false narratives which underly this nefarious project.
