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Mumbai: The Maharashtra home department on Monday informed the Bombay high court that the statewide bandh on October 11, 2021, to condemn the Lakhimpur Kheri incident of October 3 was not a decision of the state cabinet but was called by the political parties in their personal capacities and not as the ruling alliance. The Mumbai police also submitted that the losses mentioned in public interest litigation (PIL) cannot be assigned to the state government.
The division bench of chief justice Dipankar Datta and justice Makarand Karnik was hearing the PIL filed by Ribeiro, 92; Gerson Da Cunha, 92; Dattatraya Sukhtankar, 89; and Cyruz Guzder, 76. It was informed by the state that it had filed an affidavit following the HC direction of February 8. Similarly, the police also informed the bench that it had filed an affidavit in response to the PIL.
The PIL had alleged that the October 11 bandh was unprecedented as it was called by the three parties in power and had caused a loss of nearly ₹3,000 crore to the state exchequer, hence orders should be passed restraining political parties from calling bandhs.
In the previous hearing, the bench had questioned whether its order restraining bandhs would have had any effect. “Even if we order that no bandh should be allowed henceforth, do you think that our orders will be imposed? It requires a change of mindset,” chief justice Datta had said. Thereafter, on February 8 the bench had directed the state, police and the political parties to respond to the PIL in three weeks.
On Monday the affidavit filed by the state through Sanjay Khedekar, deputy secretary, state home department, read: “After perusing the copy of the minutes of the state cabinet meeting held on October 6, 2021, it is seen that as per the said minutes, no cabinet decision was taken at state government to call for a statewide bandh on October 11, 2021.”
The affidavit further states that the cabinet had only expressed grief and offered condolences and tributes to the farmers who died in the incident that took place at Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh.
The affidavit filed by Sanjay Latkar, deputy commissioner of police (operations), for Mumbai police, stated that the police took immediate measures to avoid any damage and ensure that no untoward incident took place in the city after it came to know about the decision of the three political parties.
The affidavit also referred to preventive actions taken by the police by arresting or detaining miscreants and registering FIRs or non-cognizable offences in some cases and stated that apart from that the police did not receive any further complaints.
“…the incidents alleged by the petitioners on the basis of newspaper reports were never reported by the aggrieved persons, if any, to the concerned police stations apart from the ones mentioned above,” Latkar stated.
The affidavit concludes that the contentions in the PIL were misconceived and should be dismissed with costs. After hearing the submissions, the bench adjourned the hearing.
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