Women of Mumbai Bagh to move from road to footpath

Days after an FIR was registered against 300 unnamed people participating in the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protest at Morland Road— dubbed Mumbai Bagh

Days after an FIR was registered against 300 unnamed people participating in the anti-Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) protest at Morland Road— dubbed Mumbai Bagh — the protesters have agreed to clear the under-construction road to allow the civic body to complete its work. The protesters, mostly women, who had been occupying the road for 15 days, will move to the footpath, till the construction work is completed.

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Representatives of the group which met civic chief Praveen Pardeshi on Monday said they have agreed to co-operate with Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) officials to allow them to complete the road construction work. “Considering that the footpath alongside the road is empty, we will move to the footpath while BMC completes the road construction work. Once they complete the work, we will move back to the road and they can complete the work on the footpath,” said Meher Ansari, a Mumbai Bagh protester and a resident of Madanpura.

Despite repeated attempts, officials from BMC were unavailable for comments.

In a statement issued by the delegation which met Pardeshi, they said they were assured that the civic chief would speak to Mumbai Police commissioner Sanjay Barve to withdraw the FIR against the women.

Last week, around 300 protesters were booked by Nagpada police for blocking the road and disturbing peace, following a complaint by a BMC official.

Feroze Mithiborwala, member of Joint Action Committee, which has helped organise the protest, said the Mumbai Police had issued notices under section 149 (prevent cognizable offence) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) to even those who frequented Morland Road, such as a milkman and a banana vendor. “This kind of behaviour, where anyone who enters the road is charged, is unacceptable as the police are trying to threaten people to not help the women who have been protesting for the last 15 days,” he said.

Meanwhile, MLA Rais Shaikh wrote to chief minister Uddhav Thackeray asking him to take cognisance of the complaint filed against the protesting women.
“I request you to kindly look into the complaint filed by the E Ward officer against the protesting women,” said Shaikh in the letter. Last week, an attempt by political parties and community leaders to end the protest failed, with the women saying they will continue their agitation against CAA and related measures.