New Delhi: The Madras high court recently quashed a first information report (FIR) against one Jafar Sathick who was protesting against the Citizenship (Amendment) Act on March 2020 in Kanyakumari, LiveLaw reported.
The special sub-inspector of police, Boothapandy police station, Kanyakumari district, in the complaint had said the protest caused hindrance to the free flow of traffic on the road. It added that the petitioners and others had committed public nuisance by their act.The bench of Justice R. Hemalatha noted that no untoward incident had taken place and the petitioner had organised the protest and the FIR did not disclose any act of violence.
According to the report, the court said, “It must be unequivocally emphasised that the Constitution of India gives its citizens the right to freedom of speech and expression, assemble peacefully and without arms, to form Associations and Unions and to move freely throughout the Territory of India under Article 19 (1) (a), (b), (c) and (d) of the Constitution of India.”
The court added, as per the report, “In the instant case, the protest was peaceful and as already observed no untoward incident took place.”Therefore, after making these observations, the court quashed the FIR filed against the petitioner.
In a similar case, the Madurai bench of the Madras high court in November last year had quashed an FIR lodged against two CAA-NRC (National Register of Citizens) protesters saying they had conducted peaceful demonstrations and no act of violence had occurred.
