Pune police detained 88 protesters near Lal Mahal and Shaniwar Wada on Saturday after they gathered for a rally without permission, while 14 activists detained by Madhya Pradesh Police on their way to Delhi were released in the city later that evening.
The Pune protesters, gathered under the banner of the Bhagat Singh Jan Adhikar Yatra, were demanding the resignation of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar, his arrest and the scrapping of the Special Intensive Revision (SIR). The proposed rally was to proceed from Lal Mahal to the Pune District Collectorate.
Police said some organisations had sought permission for the rally, but it was not granted because of law-and-order concerns. Despite this, protesters assembled near Shaniwar Wada and the gathering obstructed traffic movement in the area. A large police deployment was made around Lal Mahal before officers took about 88 protesters to Lashkar police station in police vehicles.
Police described the detentions as preventive action taken under law. Some protesters were handed over to their parents after they reached the police station, while the release of others was being processed after completion of legal procedures, police said. Other protesters later gathered outside the Lashkar police station and raised slogans against the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
The separate detention involved 14 activists travelling by train from Pune to Delhi to attend a protest called by the CJP at Jantar Mantar on October 10. The activists were detained by Madhya Pradesh Police at Itarsi railway station before they could continue their journey. A senior police officer told The Indian Express that the protesters were counselled to return to their home states.
Shrawani Buwa, an All India Students Federation leader among those detained, said the group included five women and two people who were not protesters. According to Buwa, the group was taken to a resort-like location rather than a police station, their mobile phones were taken and their phones were later returned after activists traced their live location. These claims were made by Buwa and were not independently confirmed in the report.
Buwa and activist Preeti Londhe subsequently filed a habeas corpus petition before the Madhya Pradesh High Court. The court directed the police either to produce the activists before it on October 13 or send them safely back to their families. Madhya Pradesh Police arranged a bus that left Itarsi at about 9 am on Saturday and reached Pune in the evening.
The 14 activists were released at Buwa’s home in Model Colony, Shivajinagar, at around 6 pm, after being taken to Kharadi police station for about an hour. Five Madhya Pradesh police personnel accompanied them on the bus, Buwa said. She added that she would return to Madhya Pradesh for the habeas corpus hearing and address a press conference organised by the Communist Party of India, AISF and CJP after the hearing.
The immediate operational issue for Pune authorities was the management of an unauthorised gathering in a congested heritage and commercial area. The police action at Lal Mahal and the continuing legal proceedings in Madhya Pradesh are separate developments linked to protests over the Chief Election Commissioner and the SIR process.
