Attack on JNU students: Mumbai police withdraws case against 36 protesters

“Further, it is contended that there is no loss of life as well as loss to public property. Therefore, considering the allegations and facts of the case and the alleged act being social and political in nature, the prosecution does not want to proceed with the matter….,” the court said in its order passed on January 12.

The prosecutor, who moved the application, cited the GR dated September 20, 2022 by the state Home department. The GR said that political parties and social organisations conducted protests in social interest and to raise awareness on various issues.

The GR said that the government had decided to withdraw cases involving such protests, where chargesheets have been filed on or before March 31, 2022 and which meet certain criteria including the nature of the protest. The application was moved by the prosecutor under Section 321 of the Criminal Procedure Code which gives power to the prosecutor to withdraw a case with consent from the court. The prosecutor said in the plea that he had applied his mind to the facts of the case and came to the conclusion that this was a fit case for withdrawal.

In December 2020, the Colaba police had filed a chargesheet against the 36 persons on charges including unlawful assembly, claiming that they had gathered at the Gateway of India without requisite permission around midnight on January 25 and eventually the protestors’ number rose to 400. The 36 referred to as participants in the protest were charged with 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. Those named in the chargesheet are lawyers Mihir Desai, Lara Jesani, Lokshahir Sambhaji Bhagat, students and activists, including Suvarna Salve, Bilal Khan and CPI leader Prakash Reddy, among others.

According to officials, as per the GR, a committee comprising the zonal DCP (Zone 1), ACP and the assistant director and public prosecutor, met in November to decide on the cases falling within the GR’s conditions for withdrawal. A total of 44 cases from seven police stations in South Mumbai were shortlisted and recommended for withdrawal.