India Gate ‘air pollution’ protest: Police invoke BNS Section 197 to investigate alleged ‘Naxal links’ of protesters

A police officer said Section 197 of the BNS was added to the FIR that was registered at the Kartavya Path police station. Six individuals were apprehended in this case, who, according to the police, used pepper spray on officers who asked them to leave the India Gate C-Hexagon area.

Some protesters were reportedly seen carrying posters of Maoist commander Madvi Hidma, who was killed in an encounter in Andhra Pradesh last week, police said. The Special Cell and Crime Branch of the Delhi Police are assisting the local police in their investigations into whether the protesters had any links with Maoists.

An individual who is convicted of an offence under Section 197 BNS – which corresponds broadly to Section 153B of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC) – is liable to be punished with imprisonment up to three years, or with a fine, or both.

The six individuals arrested in the first FIR were produced before Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) Aridaman Singh Cheema of the Patiala House Courts on Monday (November 24). Five of them were sent to judicial custody for two days; the sixth person was sent to a safehouse until his age is verified.

Before the addition of Section 197 BNS, this FIR had been registered under Sections 74 (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 79 (word, gesture, or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 115(2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 132 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant), 221 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions), and 223 (disobedience to a lawful order from a public servant) of the BNS.

The protesters gathered near India gate on Sunday (November 23), ostensibly against the bad air in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR), even though they did not have the required permission from police.

After they were removed from the area, some of the protesters allegedly scuffled with police near Parliament Street police station, after which the second FIR was registered.

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