Mumbai Police detained Tushar Gandhi and his associates on Saturday as they travelled to August Kranti Maidan for a proposed protest in support of the Cockroach Janata Party’s demonstration at Jantar Mantar in Delhi, according to a police official quoted by The Indian Express. Gandhi was picked up in Bandra and taken to DN Nagar police station, while organisation vice-president Guddi S L was taken to MIDC police station.
Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi and president of Hum Bharat Ke Log, had called the gathering for 3.30 pm at August Kranti Maidan. He had appealed to Mumbaikars on social media to assemble at the ground, which is associated with the launch of the Quit India movement in 1942.
The proposed protest was linked to the CJP’s demand for the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar. The detentions took place amid heightened police vigilance across Maharashtra ahead of the Delhi demonstration. The Indian Express reported that Mumbai Police detained more than 200 people on Friday to prevent them from travelling to the national capital.
Police said Gandhi had been detained, not arrested. A police official said he was taken to DN Nagar police station after being picked up in Bandra. Gandhi, however, claimed on X that he had been arrested and taken to an unknown location. The differing descriptions underline the importance of the legal distinction between preventive detention and arrest in the handling of public demonstrations.
The dispute also centres on access to August Kranti Maidan. The Gamdevi Police said no application seeking permission for the protest had been received and that permission had not been granted. A senior police official said Mumbai Police could not permit a protest at the ground because of a Supreme Court ruling and because the land belongs to the Archaeological Survey of India.
The official said the restriction meant that police could not grant permission for a protest at the ASI-owned site. The police also said that no one had approached them in the first instance. Guddi disputed this account, saying she had emailed the police seeking permission because Gandhi was not in Mumbai but had received no response.
The proposed gathering therefore raised two separate administrative questions: whether organisers had secured permission for a public assembly and which authority controls the use of a historically significant site administered by the ASI. The police account was that the location itself could not be approved under the applicable court ruling.
The detentions came after police had tracked people considered likely to travel from Maharashtra to Delhi for the CJP protest. The Indian Express reported that police in Mumbai and other parts of the state were monitoring such travel and had taken preventive action on Friday. The Mumbai Police’s next steps in relation to Gandhi and the other detainees were not specified in the report.
