NAVI MUMBAI: Three days after a 14-year-old boy was apprehended and his parents arrested by Malvan police and a day after a scrap shop rented by them was demolished by Malvan municipal council after locals complained the family had raised anti-national slogans inside their home during the India vs Pakistan Champions Trophy match on Sunday, legal experts said the police action appeared harsh and hasty and a notice ought to have been issued first seeing an explanation.
The boy was produced before the district Child Welfare Committee and sent to a remand home, while the parents, who were produced before a local Sindhudurg court, were sent to magistrate’s custody for 14 days.
Sindhudurg SP Saurabh Kumar Agrawal said, “The anti-national slogans led to our lodging an FIR.”
The three were booked under Sections 196 (promoting enmity between groups and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 197 (imputations/assertions prejudicial to national integration, and 3 (5) (acts with common intention) under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. For offences under Sections 196 and 197, maximum punishment is 3 years in jail or fine or both.
Advocate Niteen Pradhan said, “Legally speaking, the police action appears high-handed and hasty against the boy. There ought to have been a preliminary inquiry and only if it was found to be a cognizable offence (serious in nature to merit an FIR), action should have been taken. Moreover, if police invoked Sections 196 and 197 of BNS, police were mandated to have issued notice to the parents to first seek explanation from them on the allegations.”
Police said that when the match was on, a passerby, Sandip Varadkar, heard the boy’s slogans, which police said were “vulgar in nature”. Varadkar asked the boy to stop but he did not. Later, a group of locals confronted his parents. However, they stood by their son and allegedly echoed similar slogans, police said.
The boy’s family, originally from Siddharthnagar district in Uttar Pradesh, has been involved in scrap business for around 15 years on a local resident’s plot in Malvan.
On the razing of the shop, chief officer of Malvan municipal council Santosh Jirage said, “We received two letters. The police letter was on a law and order issue, while local (Shiv Sena) MLA Nilesh Rane’s letter was about illegalities and traffic snarls. Hence we demolished the structure immediately without serving any notice to the owner as well as the occupants on Feb 25 (Tuesday).” The vehicle used by Qitabulla Khan for transportation of scrap was damaged in the civic body’s action. Lawyers said a demolition without notice may be illegal.
Senior advocate Rajendra Shirodkar said, “Police could have begun investigating the alleged crime on receiving the complaint and lodging it as an FIR since allegations were of attempting to disrupt communal peace, but whether an immediate arrest was necessitated is a question which the police could have decided based on the situation present at the relevant time to ensure peace in the locality. But when an offence is punishable with less than 7 years’ imprisonment, the law requires that notice first be issued to seek explanation, and if not satisfied, the police have power to arrest on citing reasons.”