JOIN USPolice lodge FIR against Kejriwal for unlawful assembly
A day after Arvind Kejriwal’s visit to Mumbai caused overcrowding and chaos at railway stations, the Mumbai Police on Thursday lodged a case against the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) leader and his supporters for unlawful assembly outside the domestic airport.
The Sahar Airport police lodged a case under section 188 (disobedience to order promulgated by a public servant) and section 141 (unlawful assembly) of the Indian Penal Code against Kejriwal and his supporters.
The police said hundreds of AAP supporters had thronged the airport to welcome Kejriwal on Wednesday in violation of the order banning assembly of more than five people.
The traffic police on Wednesday imposed a fine of Rs 500 on three autorickshaw drivers, including the one who ferried Kejriwal from the airport to Andheri railway station, for violating the norm of carrying not more than three passengers and enthusiastic AAP activists hung on to the autos. A report will be forwarded to the state Election Commission.
Kejriwal had travelled from Andheri to Churchgate along with hundreds of AAP activists. A number of commuters had complained that they were inconvenienced by the gathering.
Two metal detectors, kept at Churchgate station, were damaged when the crowd followed Kejriwal out of the station.
The AAP stated: “We are afraid that the media zeal (in pursuit of exclusive visuals) led to a total breakdown of law and order. Media persons clambered all over Arvind Kejriwal at the airport, forcing the police to cordon off Kejriwal and lead him in the wrong direction.”
It further stated that even in the autorickshaw, “media persons risked their own safety and that of others to get bytes from him, inviting accident. An AAP volunteer hopped into the auto to ward of cameras for safety.”
The AAP said there was no one to ward of the chasing cameras and though Kejriwal’s auto stopped at the traffic signal. “The police forced us to go forward. This was not a roadshow or an event. The misreporting that we broke some law in this journey is malicious to the say the least.”