Mumbai police have issued show-cause notices to activists who participated in or allegedly mobilised people for protests, asking them to explain why they should not be directed to execute Rs 50,000 peace bonds promising good behaviour for one year under Section 126 of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
The notices seek a suitable surety and warn that proceedings could be initiated before an executive magistrate or special executive magistrate. A notice does not establish guilt. Section 126 allows executive magistrates to take preventive measures when they believe action is necessary to maintain public peace and tranquillity.
One notice referred to an alleged appeal to gather near the Ashoka Pillar at Chaityabhoomi in Dadar on July 20 in support of demands related to examination paper leaks and calls for the resignation of then Union education minister Dharmendra Pradhan. It also mentioned a purported appeal to mobilise supporters at Shivaji Park on October 11, seeking the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar over alleged electoral fraud.
According to the notice, the activities had the potential to create law-and-order problems and threaten public safety. Another allegation concerned a protest on October 10 near Nana Chowk, close to August Kranti Maidan, where Progressive Students Union’s Samya Korde and Tushar Gandhi, president of Hum Bharat Ke Log, allegedly gathered between 350 and 400 protesters without permission.
The notice issued to Korde was dated October 23 and signed by Anurag Jain, special executive magistrate and deputy commissioner of police, central zone-II, Matunga. A report submitted by Wadala TT police alleged that Korde used her social media accounts to mobilise people for protests without obtaining the required permissions. The notice also referred to allegations of sloganeering, traffic obstruction and inconvenience to commuters, as well as violations of prohibitory orders issued by the state government.
The notice cited a case registered at Gamdevi police station for unlawful assembly and other offences. It said that, after examining the police report and supporting material, there were grounds to believe Korde could engage in similar activities in the future and disturb public order. She was directed to appear before the court at Matunga police station on the specified date and submit her explanation within seven days of receiving the notice.
Korde told the Times of India that she had exercised her constitutional right to protest. She said she would seek legal advice and respond to the notice. “Social media is a tool that can be used to mobilise people for a protest. How does that make it unconstitutional?” she said.
Korde also said organisers had informed the police before holding protests but had not received permission. She argued that maintaining law and order during a protest was the police’s responsibility and alleged selective action, referring to a previous incident in which an effigy of an opposition party functionary was burnt without, she claimed, similar action or detentions.
The notices place Mumbai’s protest-permission process and the use of preventive powers under Section 126 in focus. The immediate proceedings will depend on the explanations submitted by the activists and the consideration of the notices by the relevant executive magistrate. The reported notices follow similar action in Delhi, where special executive magistrates issued peace-bond notices to individuals linked to calls for protests over alleged electoral fraud.
