Mumbai’s anti-maskers booked for protesting

The anti -maskers being taken from Dadar to Matunga

A group of anti-maskers, from different sections of civil society, are determined to fight on, despite a tumultuous past weekend. The clutch of anti-maskers had gathered near Dadar station over the weekend to raise awareness, "about various unscientific claims about masks helping stop the spread of Coronavirus, as we have no data to support this," said participant Firoze Mithiborwala.

Create awareness

Mithiborwala an Andheri resident, who with others in the 30-strong group was supposed to walk from Dadar to the BMC office in South Mumbai, without a mask and distribute literature to people on the way, said, "We were to give people a copy of a Right to Information (RTI) query about masks made to the Government of India's Health Ministry. The answers do not provide scientific information or proof that masks, especially the ones that most people wear, the R10 or so face coverings, can stop the transmission. Nor has the government provided any answers to the queries about the adverse effects of wearing these face coverings for hours. We wanted to alert the public about this. Many of us are also anti-vaxxers. There should be no coercion about taking vaccines. The government says they are not forcing people, but covert pressures are there. There should be no restrictions for the unmasked too."

Civil disobedience

Mithiborwala added, "We are not going to take these rules and restrictions like idiots. This was supposed to be a Civil Disobedience or Satyagraha. We were going to march in ones or twos creating no problems, silently, towards the BMC." The police stymied their plans for the walk. They stated, "We were then taken to the Matunga police station in a bus, we remained defiant throughout. We only want to question coercion and fines, not create any trouble."

Fine fears

One of the protesters, Madan Dubey, who has been named in the FIR, said, "The RTI report states one must wear masks if one has a cold, cough or fever. Healthy people need not wear masks. They should not wear them for more than six or eight hours. In any case, the government cannot and should not treat those who wear masks and those who do not, differently. They cannot discriminate. People are so wary of fines. We read in press reports that the government has collected at least R80 crore through fines."

Dubey, who is a Thane resident and calls himself an activist, added, "Section 269 of the Indian Penal Code has been slapped on us. This section says that one who spreads infection of a disease that is dangerous to life shall be punished. How do they know that I am spreading the COVID-19 virus or any infection at all? My RT-PCR test or other tests should be done prior to slapping that section. Only if I do have an infection, there is a base to the action."

To fight

"First, we have vaccines. Now, with the Omicron variant, the talk is about boosters. Soon, we may have variant specific vaccines forced upon us. All of this is spiralling into a very dangerous cycle," said Mithiborwala.

Advocate Nilesh Ojha, representing some of the anti-mask activists, claimed that the mask-up restrictions are, "illegal and unconstitutional, when you look at various sections of the Disaster Management Act. Citizens should not be forced to follow these unlawful orders." The Matunga police maintained that notices have been given to certain people in this group, and they will have to give answers in court.