Detained, Summoned, And Now Slapped With FIRs: Inside Mumbai's Protest Crackdown
A majority of the 90 protesters named in one such FIR are between the ages of 17 and 30, reports Swati Chopra.
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"A police officer slapped me," alleges Aditya Tomar (name changed to protect identity), a 26 year-old resident of Mumbai, recounting the events of 21 July when he was detained during the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protests at the city's Shivaji Park.
"We were protesting peacefully. There were no slogans or banners. Suddenly, the police started pushing us from behind, creating a stampede-like situation. Then, they began dragging people away," Tomar tells The Quint.
What began as a peaceful show of solidarity with students protesting at Delhi's Jantar Mantar has now escalated into a legal battle for several Mumbai residents. Many of them were detained during the protests at Shivaji Park, some even before they reached the protest site.
Since then, multiple people have been slapped with First Information Reports (FIRs). Others have had police officers visit their homes and allegedly warn them against participating in future protests.
FIR Filed Against At Least 162 People
Tomar, along with several others, was detained for four hours. They were asked to state their names, age, phone numbers, and addresses, and only released once their lawyers spoke to the police.
Even as he thought that would be the end of his ordeal, it wasn't.
On 24 July, he and 89 other 'accused' received an FIR (a copy of which has been accessed by The Quint) stating that they were found "unlawfully gathering an unauthorised assembly on the footpath without permission, and while walking on the footpath, raising slogans and sloganeering."
As per the FIR, the 90 protesters have been booked under several charges, including Section 189 (2) (unlawful assembly) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and Section 37 (1) and 37 (3) (power to prohibit certain acts for prevention of disorder) and Section 135 (penalty for contravention of rules or directions under Section 37) of the Maharashtra Police Act.
A majority of those named in the said FIR filed at Shivaji Park police station are between the ages of 17 and 30. The Quint tried to contact the police station multiple times, but they remained unavailable for comment. Their responses will be added as and when they revert.
Ansari (name withheld to protect identity), 22, recounts that he was detained before he could even join the protest. Ansari was walking with a group of friends on a road behind Shivaji Park when he was stopped by cops for questioning. He alleges they snatched their phones and pushed them into the van. He and his friends were then taken to Worli police station, where they were detained for nearly five hours.
Karishma Malhotra (name changed to protect identity), a 22-year-old student pursuing her master's degree, was stopped at Dadar station by a man dressed in civil clothes—again before she and her friends reached the protest site.
She recounts, "They started questioning us: 'Who are you? Where are you going?' I asked him who he was, to which he said, 'I am a police officer.' We told him we had just come from college and were meeting a few friends."
When one of them questioned the man the grounds on which they were being stopped, she was allegedly manhandled, Malhotra recounts.
They were taken to Dadar police station, where they were detained for over four hours. They were asked to share their names, addresses, and phone numbers before being released. They were, however, asked to return the next day to give a signed statement and fingerprints.
Malhotra has now been named, along with 71 others, in a separate FIR (a copy of which has also been accessed by The Quint).
‘5 Policemen Dressed in Civil Clothes Reached My House'
"The next morning, four to five policemen dressed in civil clothes came to my house and asked me to come with them to the police station," Ansari says.
Ansari was then questioned for several hours. The police asked him about his work and why he had attended the protest. "After about three hours, they took my statement. When I asked what it was for, they said, 'Nothing. We're just recording your statement. We'll show it to sir and then you'll be allowed to go," he adds.
When he asked the police whether an FIR would be filed against him too, they assured him that no case will be registered against him. Unsettled by what he had witnessed (another detainee being charged), he contacted a lawyer after his friends advised him to seek legal help.
‘It Is Illegal, Nothing Short of Kidnapping'
His lawyer then spoke to the police over a call and questioned the cops about taking Ansari from his home without prior notice.
"She asked me, 'Did they give you any notice before picking you up?' I said no. She told me they couldn't just pick me up from my house without a notice," he tells The Quint.
She then reached the station 30 minutes later, and spoke to the cops about detaining him and others "illegally". She also wrote a letter stating everything she had witnessed there—including about youngsters being picked up illegally—and got the police to sign it.
After nearly seven hours at the police station, Ansari was released.
Ansari believes he was deliberately made to wait as a means of intimidation as no senior officer ever came. "They just kept us waiting for hours before finally releasing us," he said.
"I am very scared. We are children, we have our own lives and dreams. I just hope nothing goes wrong. We are also struggling," he adds.
When The Quint contacted the police sub-inspector, she said, "Those who were participating in the protest were the only ones who were detained. They are lying. People who didn’t trouble or participate, why will be pick them up?"
‘You Will Get One FIR, Your Dreams Will Be Over'
Once Malhotra returned home, she began receiving calls from her local police station.
Malhotra says, initially, the conversations were cordial, and a woman police officer told her to answer her calls whenever she calls. However, she alleges the interaction changed the following day, when the officer repeatedly called and texted her asking for her whereabouts, including asking her to share her live location.
"She kept texting me and asked me to send my live location. I kept wondering, is this even allowed?" she says. The police officer then said it was for her protection, so that "she doesn't do anything stupid that could affect her future."
She sent her live location out of fear and immediately called her lawyer, who asked her to take the police officer on a call, "As soon as my lawyer asked her why she was asking for my location and on what grounds, she started yelling and hung up."
"She called me again and yelled, 'How dare you threaten me with a lawyer? You are threatening a police officer while I am trying to protect you. You are forcing me to send a police officer to your house and pick you up'."
"I told her, 'It's my right to get legal advice. This is not threatening.'"
"'You will get one FIR— and all your dreams will be over,'" the police officer told her.
The police officer later allegedly deleted all the messages, "I thought this was now done. But now I have an FIR against me. I didn't expect this because they were being nice to us initially. Now we're all in shock."
Malhotra said her friends had police officers visit their homes, too.
CJP Asks for FIRs to be Withdrawn
The CJP has expressed concern over reports of protesters being detained and facing police action in multiple states, including Assam, West Bengal, and Bihar.
In a statement posted on X, CJP's Saurav Das said the organisation had suspended its nationwide protest only after receiving assurances from the Union government that no punitive action would be taken against protesters.
Calling the reports of detentions and FIRs "a matter of grave concern", the CJP said it was coordinating with lawyers across states to provide legal assistance to those detained. It also urged the Centre to "ensure the release of those detained", adding, "The FIRs registered ought to be withdrawn too... and it would not merely amount to a breach of trust with the CJP, but would also be a breach of public trust with lakhs of young Indians who chose dialogue over protests."