Protest at Gateway of India: Mumbai cops charge 36

New Delhi, Dec 29: The Mumbai police have filed a chargesheet against 36 persons who staged a protest at the Gateway of India in Mumbai against the attack on students at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi.

Lawyers Mihir Desai, Susan Abraham, Lara Jesani, Lokshahir Sambhaji Bhagat, students and activists, Suvarna Salve, Bilal Khan and CPI leader Prakash Reddy among others have been named in the chargesheet.

The 80 page chargesheet was filed by the Colaba police. The chargesheet said that on January 5 midnight, many persons holding candles assembled at the Gateway of India. The police said that the number of protesters eventually rose to 400.

They were informed that they did not have permission to assemble and the designated place to protest was Azad Maidan. They however ignored the same and continued at the spot, the police also said.

The number of protesters eventually rose to 2,000. They raised slogans against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act, Delhi police, Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah.

The police slapped charges under Section 143 (member of an unlawful assembly), Section 149 (every member of an unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object) of the Indian Penal Code, Section 37 (3) of the Bombay Police Act, 1951, which allows the police to "prohibit any assembly or procession whenever and for so long as it considers such prohibition to be necessary for the preservation of the public order" and Section 135 of the Bombay Police Act.

The police had registered two FIRS, one at Colaba and the other at MRA Marg. The chargesheet in the MRA Marg case is yet to be filed.