Aarey protests: Two days after taking charge, Uddhav orders withdrawal of cases against environmentalists

“I have ordered to take back the cases filed against many environmentalists, during the agitation against Aarey metro car shed,” Thackeray said.

I had given orders to stop the metro car shed work in Aarey. When the tress were cut in the middle of the night, Mumbaikars agitated against the decision. They were detained & charged.I have given orders to take back all the charges filed against them.
–@CMOMaharashtra #Aarey pic.twitter.com/OXL9gIsUpd

— Office of Uddhav Thackeray (@OfficeofUT) December 1, 2019

The withdrawal of cases come more than a month after 29 protesters demanded the withdrawal of the charges against them. They were charged under Sections 353 and 332, relating to obstructing public officials from discharging their duties.

WATCH | Mumbai’s Aarey forest protests: What you should know

Alleging that police had assaulted them and not the other way round as mentioned in the FIR, the agitators then had criticised the Mumbai Police for treating environment lovers like “hardcore criminals”.

Protest at a school in Mumbai on Sunday. (Express photo by Prashant Nadkar)

The 29 protesters were arrested on October 8 under non-bailable sections and they were jailed overnight at Thane and Byculla prisons, which had evoked widespread surprise regarding the manner in which police dealt with civic protests.

Protests erupted in the green lung of Mumbai city after Bombay High Court on October 4 allowed MMRCL to cut trees for the construction of the car shed and depot for the Mumbai metro. Nearly 2,141 trees were felled overnight following the High Court orders which had brought the environmental activists to the streets, until Supreme Court passed a restraining order against cutting more trees.