New Delhi, Jun 11 (PTI) A Delhi court has discharged 10 TMC leaders in a case linked to a protest outside the Election Commission of India despite prohibitory orders, saying a mere protest for voicing dissent was the hallmark of democracy.
Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate Neha Mittal said the prosecution could not establish that the gathering of the accused persons was an unlawful assembly, nor could they prove that they were commanded to disperse because of prohibitory orders being promulgated.
The court was passing its order on framing of charges against TMC leaders Derek O’Brien, Mohammed Nadimul Haque, Dola Sen, Saket Gokhale, Sagarika Ghose, Vivek Gupta, Arpita Ghosh, Santanu Sen, Abir Ranjan Biswas and Sudip Raha.
In an order dated June 10 which was made available on Friday, the court said, “The allegations against the accused persons are that they were protesting on April 8, 2024, in front of main gate, Election Commission of India, New Delhi, without permission and that the said protest violated order dated March 14, 2024, by the ACP Parliament Street whereby shouting of slogans or holding of any demonstration or dharna in any public place was prohibited.” The court said that according to the allegations, they continued the protest despite a warning that prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) had been enforced.
It said, “The criminal liability of the act of the accused persons is to be discerned while keeping in mind that a mere protest for voicing dissent opinion is not only the hallmark of democracy but also a fundamental right guaranteed under Article 19(1)(a) and (b) (freedom of speech and expression and right to assemble peacefully) of the Indian Constitution.” It said that the question in the matter was whether the accused persons had violated the prohibitory orders, which was a reasonable restriction of these fundamental rights.
The court said the police official’s statement, based on which the FIR was registered, did not state that any obstruction, annoyance or injury or danger to human life, health or safety was likely to take place because of the acts of the accused.
It said, “None of the videos of the incident show that any obstruction was indeed caused because of the acts of the accused persons. No disruption to traffic because of the protest of the accused persons can be seen in any of the videos, and it is also clear from the videos that entry to the Election Commission is also not blocked.” The court said there was nothing on record to show that the accused persons knew the order issued by the ACP.
It said, “Though the incident has been videographed, neither any banner indicating promulgation of the order under Section 144 of CrPC, nor loud hailers/public announcement (PA) system can be seen at the spot in the videos.” The court said that the assumption of police officials personally communicating the order also failed, as the video showed that they were only speaking with Derek O’Brien.
It said that a mere averment that the order was communicated was insufficient in the absence of any concrete evidence.
“Thus, prosecution has neither been able to show prima facie communication of order under Section 144 of the CrPC to the accused persons nor the consequences of violation of the said order as envisaged under Section 188 (disobedience of order duly promulgated by public servant) of the IPC,” the court said.
It said that in the absence of knowledge of the order, the gathering of the accused persons cannot be termed as an unlawful assembly.
“So, the prosecution has neither been able to prove that the gathering of the accused persons was an unlawful assembly nor the fact that they were commanded to disperse in view of the promulgation of the order,” the court said.
It said there were no prima facie grounds to frame charges against them under Sections 145 (joining or continuing in unlawful assembly, knowing it has been commanded to disperse) and 34 (common intention) of the IPC.
“All the accused persons are discharged,” the court said. PTI MNR MNR KSS KSS
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