Hillary experience: police eye on potential protesters

Likewise,many other small organisations in the city are likely to join hands in the protest.

“In democracy,one can’t be stopped from protesting. The police may try to stop us,but we are determined to protest during Obama’s visit,” said Mohammad Aslam Gazi,spokeperson for Jamaat e Islami Hind. Other organisations like Shivraj Party,Sambhaji Brigade,Jijau Brigade in Mumbai are also supposting the protest.

“The police have been overly cautious with us. We have got at least 10 calls from various police department asking our protest plans and venues. We are law abiding citizens and believe in peaceful protest,” said Kishore Jagtap from Awami Bharat.

Commissioner of Police Sanjeev Dayal said,“The right to dissent,and dissent in public,is what sets democracy apart from an authoritarian regime. We understand every individual has a right to express himself. We have our measures in place if any of these groups plan to surprise us on the D- day. All that we expect is that they behave responsibly and update us with their plans.”

In July last year,a day before Clinton’s Mumbai visit,Mithiborewala and Jagtap were detained under Section 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) by the MIDC police of Andheri (E) claiming they had intended to protest.

The Bombay High Court,however,had rubbished the police’s claim and had come down heavily on the state claiming it was not a reason enough to detain any one and held that fundamental rights were above everything in democracy.