Sad day for democracy if prosecution used to stifle protests: HC

Mumbai: Asserting that it would be a “sad day for democracy” if criminal prosecutions are used to stifle peaceful protests, the Bombay High Court has quashed a first information report (FIR) against a man booked for participating in an agitation over poor road conditions.

Justice MW Chandwani of the HC’s Nagpur bench, in an order passed on October 29, a copy of which was made available later, observed that the lines between the constitutional right to protest and the unleashing of penal prosecutions cannot be allowed to be blurred.

Prosecutions must not be launched to stifle agitations that are part of the democratic process so long as people do not take the law into their own hands or indulge in violence or damage to public or private property, the HC said.

It quashed the FIR and chargesheet filed against Nishkarsh Nimgade, a resident of Maharashtra‘s Chandrapur district, for participating in an agitation in January this year against poor road conditions in Nandgaon village.

The residents of Nandgaon held the agitation after a vehicle met with an accident due to the poor condition of the road. The people sought action against the road contractor and errant officials of the Public Works Department.

Nimgade had filed a petition in the HC, seeking to quash the FIR and the chargesheet filed against him.

The police claimed the agitators had blocked the road by forming an unlawful assembly.

‘Constitutional rights can’t be stifled based on vague charges’

The HC, however, said Article 19(1)(b) of the Constitution guarantees the right to assemble peacefully and without arms.

While reasonable restrictions could always be imposed on exercising this fundamental right, it must not be diluted or stifled based upon vague charges, the court said.

“The lines between the constitutional right to protest and the unleashing of penal prosecutions cannot be allowed to be blurred. If this mindset gains traction, it would be a sad day for democracy,” the HC remarked.

The launch of criminal prosecution against the applicant is nothing but an abuse of the process of the court, it added.

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