Leaders from MNS, Sena (UBT) booked for rally ‘sans permissions’

Mumbai police booked several Shiv Sena UBT and MNS members, including Bala Nandgaonkar, for organizing a protest without permission.

Mumbai: The Azad Maidan police on Saturday night booked several members of the Shiv Sena UBT and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), including MNS state vice president Bala Nandgaonkar, for allegedly organising the Saturday ‘Satyacha Morcha’ (March for Truth) in south Mumbai without the required permissions.

The Azad Maidan police on Saturday night booked several members of the Shiv Sena UBT and the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), including MNS state vice president Bala Nandgaonkar, for allegedly organising the Saturday ‘Satyacha Morcha’ (March for Truth) in south Mumbai without the required permissions(Photo by Bhushan Koyande/HT Photo)

The morcha, organised by prominent leaders including NCP (SP) supremo Sharad Pawar, several Congress leaders, Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray, and MNS president Raj Thackeray, saw thousands of people gather at the Mahapalika Marg on Saturday. The crowd rallied against alleged irregularities in the voter list, misuse of voter data, and the election commission’s careless response to the issue.

According to the police, the organisers had not secured permission to hold the protest. A senior police officer of the Azad Maidan police said that such protests and rallies are not permitted under the prohibitory order in South Mumbai and despite that, the protest had been organised.

However, Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Anil Parab said, “We had asked for permission and they had not denied it. Hence we thought that they allowed us to go ahead with the protest. We had a meeting with police and they didn’t say that permission was denied. The police cooperated with us.”

Of all the members booked, the police only named six, Nandgaonkar and five others, Baban Mahadik, Arvind Gawade, Santosh Shinde, Baban Gharat, Jaywant Naik who were booked for violating prohibitory orders and notified rules. The police added that many other MNS and Shiv Sena ( UBT) members were booked under section 223 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, and 37(3), 135 of the Bombay Police act for unlawful gathering and disobedience of government orders.

Speaking to HT about the case registered against party members, city MNS chief Sandeep Deshpande said, “These cases don’t make a difference to us.”