7 AAP leaders booked for unlawful assembly for protest against Raghav Chadha

The AAP’s Mumbai unit said the detentions and the FIR against party leaders amounted to suppression of lawful and peaceful democratic protest

Mumbai: The Khar police on Sunday registered a first information report (FIR) against seven members of the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), including its Mumbai Working President Reuben Mascarenhas, for alleged unlawful assembly after they held a protest against the alleged defection of AAP Rajya Sabha MP Raghav Chadha and six other MPs to the BJP.

7 AAP leaders booked for unlawful assembly for protest against Raghav Chadha

The AAP members held a demonstration near Bandra station and later, in front of the Khar residence of Chadha, from where they were detained, police said. The AAP’s Mumbai unit said the detentions and the FIR against party leaders amounted to suppression of lawful and peaceful democratic protest. Around 50 people had participated in the protest on 16th Road in Khar West, in front of Chadha’s residence, the party said.

Speaking to Hindustan Times, Mascarenhas said that while they had given prior intimation to the police regarding Sunday’s protest in Khar, several party leaders were contacted by the police, advising them not to assemble at the venue. Police also visited the party’s Chakala office while Mascarenhas himself was picked up from his residence and detained at the Khar police station briefly in the afternoon even as a large police contingent was deployed near Chadha’s home, the AAP leader alleged.

With access to the protest venue restricted due to police deployment, AAP volunteers gathered at Bandra station and held a demonstration. In the evening, a group of around 50 volunteers reached 16th Road in Khar and held a protest outside Chadha’s residence, raising slogans like “Raghav Chadha Dalal he, BJP ka Dalal he (Raghav Chadha is the BJP’s pimp)”, AAP leaders said. Several AAP leaders including Mascarenhas and Sumitra Shrivastava were detained briefly from the site and subsequently booked for unlawful assembly, police said.