Mumbai court allows police’s plea to withdraw case against 36 people involved in protest at Gateway of India

The police in their plea said the accused had committed the alleged act without any "personal interest or benefits".

A court in Mumbai has allowed Mumbai Police's plea to withdraw their case against 36 people involved in a protest at the Gateway of India after an attack on students at the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi in January 2020.

The police in their plea said the accused had committed the alleged act without any "personal interest or benefits". The Esplanade court's Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate S. V. Dindokar earlier this month allowed the application for withdrawal of the case. The order was made available on January 31.

In the plea, filed through Additional Public Prosecutor Gautam Gaikwad, police contended that the accused persons did the alleged act as a protest "without any personal interest or benefits". "There is no loss of life as well as loss to public property," the police said.

After perusal of the application, the court said considering the allegations and facts of the case and the “alleged act being social and political in nature,” the prosecution does not want to proceed with the matter and has decided to withdraw the case. “The application is allowed and the case is disposed of as withdrawn,” the court said.

Students from various colleges in Mumbai had joined the protest at the Gateway of India in Mumbai to condemn the violence at the JNU in Delhi in January 2020. The Colaba police, probing the case, had filed a charge sheet against 36 people in December 2020.

The charge sheet had said people began to assemble holding candles at the Gateway of India around midnight on January 5, 2020 after reports of violence against students at JNU emerged late in the evening. “The number of protesters rose to 400,” it claimed.

The protesters were informed that they did not have the permission to assemble and the designated place to protest was at the Azad Maidan. “This was ignored and the protest was continued at the spot,” the charge sheet said.