Controlling the unruly crowd of thousands of people, who were out to create havoc on the roads leading to financial capital of India – Mumbai, was well within the rights and duties of the city police, especially when the demonstration was held without the required and mandatory permission from the authorities concerned.
The AIMIM rally, which was supposedly organized to protest against BJP MLA Nitesh Rane and preacher Ramgiri Maharaj for their alleged hate speeches, had around 12 thousand strong crowd racing towards Mumbai in a huge cavalcade of cars to discuss the issue with Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde.
According to reports, the Mumbai Police resorted to lathi charge as the AIMIM rally led by Syed Moin and Imtiaz Jaleel created a chaotic situation entering the city and blocking the streets.
An FIR was also registered against the party workers for holding a ‘rasta roko’ protest at Kopri Highway.
As per the reports, the incident occurred on the intervening night of Monday and Tuesday at around 11.30 pm.
The chaos took place after the party workers claimed that their leader Imtiaz Jaleel had gone missing and was unreachable, the reports said.
The Islamist workers then created ruckus waiting on the highway for long hours following which the Mumbai Police flew into action resorting to lathi charge.
A number of videos of the incident are doing rounds on various social media platforms wherein the Mumbai police can be seen resorting to lathi-charge to control the crowd.
The reports said that the rally was stopped at the Mulund check naka and over 12,000 protestors were asked to return to their homes in Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar.
A large police personnel, including Additional Commissioner of Police and other senior officials, were deployed to deal with the situation at Mulund check naka.
The Mumbai Police had made all the arrangements to make ensure that Jaleel others do not enter the city.
It’s interesting to note that the AIMIM had held a ‘Chalo Mumbai Tiranga’ rally ahead of the state assembly elections to protest against the alleged anti-Islamic remarks.
On September 22, a rally was organized by state party vice president Syed Moin, and the next day another rally was held by AIMIM leader Imtiaz Jaleel.
Both rallies were headed from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar to Mumbai.
“The walls of caste and religion are being built in Maharashtra. Attempts are being made to incite rioting. Muslims are being threatened on stage; are these not illegal acts? Shouldn’t action be taken? I am concerned about the absence of police action despite several FIRs filed against Rane for his incendiary statements,” Jaleel was quoted as saying in the reports while addressing the gathering.
“We want a law that prohibits statements based on caste or religion, or derogatory remarks about religious figures. If such statements are made, there should be strict laws against them,” he added.