A group of advocates practising before the Bombay High Court has strongly criticised the Mumbai Police's action against protesters and called for the withdrawal of sweeping prohibitory orders imposed across the city, contending that they unjustifiably curtail citizens' fundamental right to peaceful assembly.

In a statement issued, the advocates referred to reports that more than 300 persons, including minors, were detained on July 20 after gathering in and around Shivaji Park to participate in peaceful protests. According to the statement, the police action was reportedly based on the ground that no permission had been granted for protests at Chaityabhoomi.

The statement was supported by 141 lawyers including Senior Advocates Janak Dwarakadas, Navroz Seervai, Gayatri Singh, Mihir Desai, Haresh Jagtiani, Yug Mohit Chaudhary, Dinyar Madon, Advocate Arti Raghavan and several others.

The lawyers asserted that the freedom to assemble peacefully without arms is guaranteed under Article 19(1)(b) of the Constitution and warned that the right becomes "meaningless" if authorities prohibit all protests in the name of regulation and reasonable restrictions.

The statement also questioned the legality of the prohibitory orders issued by the Office of the Commissioner of Police under Section 37(3) of the Maharashtra Police Act, 1951.

It pointed out that an order dated July 3 prohibited assemblies of five or more persons, processions and the use of loudspeakers across Brihanmumbai from July 7 to July 21. Although the order stated that it would be widely publicised through the media, loudspeakers and by affixing copies at public places, the advocates alleged that it received "no visibility or publication," thereby preventing affected persons from challenging it before courts.

The advocates further highlighted that another identically worded prohibitory order was issued on July 18 for the period from July 23 to August 6, with only a one-day gap between the two orders. They contended that Section 37(3) does not permit such prohibitions to remain in force for more than 15 days without State Government sanction, and alleged that the back-to-back orders appeared designed to circumvent that statutory requirement.

The statement argued that constitutional courts have consistently held that restrictions on peaceful assembly must be supported by specific facts, reasons and an assessment that the measures adopted are the least restrictive means available. However, the Mumbai Police orders merely referred to information received from "various sources" without disclosing any factual basis or indicating that any independent verification had been undertaken, the lawyers said.

Expressing concern over what they described as a lack of accountability in issuing such orders, the advocates said citizens are often left with no immediate remedy except approaching already overburdened courts.

They urged the Mumbai Police Commissioner to withdraw the prohibitory orders and called upon law enforcement authorities to refrain from taking action against citizens engaging in peaceful protests.

"It ought not to fall on citizens to seek recourse to already overburdened courts, and spend scarce judicial time to assail orders that are quite plainly on shaky legal footing," the statement said, while urging the police to respect the constitutional right to peaceful assembly.

The Bombay Bar Association has also passed a resolution condemning the Delhi police's use of force against the protesters at Jantar Mantar. Yesterday, the Supreme Court Bar Association as well as the Supreme Court Advocates-on-Record Association passed similar resolutions.

Signatories :

Janak Dwarkadas

Navroz Seervai

Gayatri Singh

Mihir Desai

Haresh Jagtiani

Yug Mohit Chaudhry

Dinyar Madon

Arti Raghavan

Prakruti Joshi

Fatema Lokhandwala

Anushka Sharma

Huzan Bhumgara

Abir Ray

Veena Gowda

Sukruta Chimalker

Aditi Uniyal

Rishika Agarwal

Richa Roy

Pranjal Jadhav

Lara Jesani

Pritha Paul

Namrata Zaveri

Sanskruti yagnik

Juan Dsouza

Nawaz Percy Dordi

Dipankar kamble

Pranava Shah

Aarushi Anil Yadav

Rutuja Shedge

Aditya Ghanbahadur

Aditya Mehta

Chandni Chawla

Gamya S

Yash Momaya

Zainab naved gagan

Latoya Ferns

Shenoy Gaurav Narasinha

Nupur Jalan

Shraddha Shinde

Aditi Goyal

Ujwal Ranjeet Nagarale

Firoza Daruwala

Siddhant Paithankar

Anubhav Ghosh

Pranav Bajaj

Janavi Khant

Yashaswi Belani

Mohammad M Abdi

Vibha Joshi

Harshada

Arya Mirgane

Samreen Fatima

Tarshish Pereira

Parimal Wagh

Atul Atmaram Londhe

Agalave Sham Hari

Lizum Wangdi

Netra Haldankar

Rajesh Arvind Patel

Arjun Kadam

Viraj Parikh

Shreya Mohapatra

Vishnu Jerome

Aryan Shah

Akshay Pandurang Dhage

Jay Kholiya

Vriddhi Pardasany

Yukta Palve

Ronita Bhattacharya Bector

Darshit Jain

Zaman Ali

Abhiraj Parab

Chetan Mali

Ananya Gandhi

Soumya Mishra

Deeksha Dev Singh

Upesh Jaywant Patil

Agneya Gopinath

Meenaz Kakalia

Ashish Goel

Anisha Didwania

Archana Punja Rupwate

Simran Jalan

Vishal Chandra Bose

Aakash Vedak

Sreeram VG

Pranita Saboo

Gautam Bhatia

Genevieve Dsouza

Anasamah

Monica Ohol

Deepti Mohan

Nidhi Singh

Peterasp Sasuri

Shruti Kailash Shirke

Prachi Wane

Dhanashree Dalvi

Afreen Khan

Arup Paul Pereira

Neha D. Dhuru

RYAN DSOUZA

Revati Alhat

Sumit Dilip Borade

Anasamah sayed

Bhavya Gehlot

Prerana Mane

Akshay Kolse Patil

Rishita Mallareddy

Charvee Jha

Tanvi Maniar

Rebecca Gonsalvez

Ashutosh Hasija

Sharmishtha Bharde

Sanath Vijairaghavan

Kaustubh Shakkarwar

Bharat Bhat

Kunal Gaurang Mehta

sudhanshu singh

Tushar Hathiramani

Abhay Singh Chauhan

Yashasvi Suroliya

Khadija Hetavkar

Swaroop Nair

Pranjali khemnar

Prerana Mane

Pratham Darad

Riya Kadam

Shrutika Meshram

Santosh Shirishkar

Trisha George

Preksha Rajendra Chakole

Sakshi Dushing

Shruti Vasave

Aamir Ali Sheikh

Ketayun Mistry

Purva Gandhi

Dr Rajiv Basant Chaudhary

Manisha Jagtap

Ishita Mehrotra

Hrishita Mukherjee

Tanjul Sharma