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Journalism of Courage
Observing that the lines between the constitutional right to protest and the unleashing of penal prosecutions cannot be allowed to be blurred, the High Court of Bombay at Goa has said that it would be “a sad day for democracy” if such a mindset gains traction.
Quashing and setting aside the FIR and chargesheet filed against two members of the Revolutionary Goans Party (RGP), a Division Bench of Chief Justice Alok Aradhe and Justice M S Sonak said in a judgment on March 12: “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. Article 19(1)(b) of the Constitution guarantees the right to assemble peaceably and without arms.”
“While reasonable restrictions could always be imposed on exercising this fundamental right, such right must not be diluted or stifled based upon vague charges bereft of the essential ingredients to constitute offences under the penal laws. 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 court said.
Police had lodged an FIR against Manoj Parab and Rohan Kalangutkar, in connection with a protest in Valpoi in 2021 under charges of rioting, criminal conspiracy, unlawful assembly, obstructing public servant and assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty. On January 6, 2021, at around 11.30 am, a group of village residents opposing a proposal to set up an IIT in Valpoi, had gathered at the proposed site to stage a protest. Some protesters were arrested.
According to the police, on the same afternoon, a mob of about 300 local residents, including Parab and Kalangutkar, marched to the police station. Police alleged that the crowd raised slogans and their “leaders appealed to them to maintain a blockade while threatening to storm the premises of the police station (in) Valpoi and cause destruction of government property and further injury to the government staff inside the premises”. The two petitioners, Parab and Kalangutkar, approached the court to quash the FIR and chargesheet filed in the case.
The court said it found it “difficult to accept that any of the offences the petitioners are charged with have been made out even by accepting the allegations at their face value”.
“There are no clear allegations that the petitioners had assembled in the afternoon session or marched towards the police station with any unlawful object or with an objective to commit any crime. There are no allegations about the wielding of deadly weapons. There are no allegations of any actual destruction of government property or injuries to the government staff…,” the court said.
“The only allegation is that the petitioners and others marched towards the police station shouting slogans,” the court said.
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