Continued from page 01 THE police on Thursday served notices to several people under the CrPC and warned that they would be held equally responsible if something goes wrong at Mumbai Bagh. A local fruit seller, Ayyaz Shaikh, told midday that he was served notice under Section 149 ( police to prevent cognizable offences) of Code Of Criminal Procedure on Thursday for selling bananas to one of the visitors, who wanted to distribute the fruit among protesters on Sunday. Shaikh fears he may face police action after the protest is over.
Most of the vendors who had been distributing food and water to the Mumbai Bagh demonstrators have stopped coming fearing police crackdown, said a protester. The policeu2019s intimidation tactic seems to be working even as the number of the demonstrators has come down to 60 per cent now.
The police are not only serving notices to the protesters and the vendors, but also to those who extended their support to the Mumbai Bagh women. u201c Notices are being given randomly to those who came there to express solidarity with the protesters,u201d said advocate Sundeep Narwani, who has been approached by a few protesters for legal help.
A protester told mid- day that the police are collecting contact details by showing photographs to people on the site.
Shashank Shekhar, another protester, said the police came to his rented house in Prabhadevi pretending to be a delivery person. Those whose address werenu2019t available with the police got the notice through WhatsApp.
The police have also sent a notice under Section 107 ( security for keeping the peace in other cases) of the CrPC to one of the protest organisers, Ali Bhojani. u201c The interesting fact is the police reached Haji Ali to enquire about me. One of the Haji Ali trustees, Suhail Khandwani, is my business partner. They questioned Khandwani instead of coming to my house,u201d he said.
Shamsher Khan Pathan, who retired as assistant commissioner of Mumbai police in 2012, also alleged that the police are harassing protesters. He said the police have served a notice under CrPC Section 149 to him as well.
u201c Whatu2019s the point of serving notices to them? This is not the NCP- Shiv Sena government, it is still Fadnavis government because the food and water distributors are being asked by the police, u2018 who is funding for the food and water?u2019 I have told all those distributing food and water to take my name in case any cop tries to bully them,u201d said Pathan.
Since the police started intimidating the protesters, close to 90 per cent of them have faced action, said Tohaa Qureshi, one of the organisers.
Mubashira Qureshi, a protester, said, u201c The crowd that you are seeing right now is almost 60 percent of the actual crowd who had come in the beginning.u201d Senior police officers are tightlipped about the allegations made by the protesters.
u2018 I got a call from a policeman who pretended to be delivery person and said he was not able to locate my home. I thought it was a gift so I gave him the address and asked him to wait as I was on my way home. When I reached, two policemen asked me to sign on a notice.
Since it was in Marathi, which I donu2019t understand, I didnu2019t signu2019 Shashank Shekhar, a protester Cops pose as deliverymen to serve protesters notice One gets notice via WhatsApp; senior police officers remain tight- lipped about the allegations Fruit seller Ayyaz Shaikh fears he may face police action after the protest at Mumbai Bagh is over. PIC/ SATEJ SHINDE
