The Bombay High Court has pulled up the Mumbai Police for booking a green activist alleging harassment over messages sent to IAS officer Ashwini Bhide in 2018 against felling of trees at Aarey Colony for the Metro III car shed.
The Division Bench of Justice Sunil Shukre and Justice M.M. Sathaye, while quashing the FIR registered at Bandra-Kurla Complex police station against green activist Avijit Michael, resident of Bangalore, observed that there was nothing ‘offensive’ in the messages and the accused was only trying to assert his democratic rights.
The High Court observed that Michael’s intention appeared to protect the forest, since he considered them to be acting like a pair of lungs for the city of Mumbai. These messages did not contain any offensive material or any obscenities. Rather, they appeared to have been sent in assertion of a democratic right of citizens of this country to put forth his view point, object, protest, persuade, urge and so on.
Registering a case against a virtual protester would invade upon the rights of citizens, no matter how high the complainant’s position, noted the Bench.
It said that if anybody was booked for criminal offences such as those as have been registered against the present petitioner, it may amount to an invasion upon the rights of citizens of this country.
Such an effort by any complainant, howsoever high he or she may be in position, cannot be countenanced and must be stopped, added the High Court, while cautioning the police against registering an FIR in such a case.
It further cautioned the police that in such a complaint, as the one involved here, police must never book any ordinary citizen of the country under criminal law and if all it did, it would be like suppressing his voice against what he considered to be a wrongful thing.
The Bench noted that several green activists and environmentalists had come together in 2018 to save thousands of trees from felling at Aarey Colony, famously called Mumbai’s last green lung.
The Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ltd (MMRCL) had felled over 2000 trees in 2018 for metro line 3 car shed in Aarey.
Sanjay Dani, IT head of MMRCL had filed a complaint around this time with the BKC police alleging that then MMRCL MD Ashwini Bhide was being harassed after her mobile number was made public and she was inundated with messages.
Police then booked Michael under Section 186 (obstructing public servant from discharging duty) of IPC and Sections 43(f) (denying authorised person access to computer) and 66 (computer related offences) of the Information Technology Act, 2000.
The activist moved the High Court seeking quashing of the FIR. Senior Advocate Gayatri Singh and Advocate Vijay Hiremath appeared for him.
The High Court further observed that even if all the allegations were taken at face value, they would still not constitute an offence.
As per Section 186 of IPC, it was necessary for the public servant who had been obstructed, to voluntarily come forward and allege the obstruction.
However, neither did Bhide file a complaint herself nor was there any evidence of any communication from her to the person who eventually filed the complaint.
The High Court noted the messages did not show by themselves that the sender of those messages had at any point of time intended to obstruct Ashwini Bhide or had any knowledge that by those messages, he would create the effect of obstructing Ashwini Bhide from discharging her public functions.
As per the Bench, the messages sent by the activist merely stated that Aarey forest was a green lung for the city of Mumbai. His intention was only to make efforts for preservation of trees in the larger interest of society. He had pleaded with Bhide to look for alternatives so that 3,500 trees could be saved, it noted.