Not with standing Section 144, AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi and MP Imtiyaz Jaleel appear during a Tiranga rally in Chandiwali

The Mumbai Police has issued prohibitory orders under Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) forbidding any assembly of five or more people, protests, marches, or rallies until Sunday night, in response to the Omicron threat. It will also cover vehicle movement.

 

"A curfew has been enforced by the Mumbai Police Commissioner, and meetings and rallies have been banned in the city. In light of the escalating Omicron instances, we have also requested that the All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen refrains from holding a protest in the city," said Home Minister Dilip Walse-Patil.

 

The order, which went into effect at 12 A.M. on Friday and Saturday, was issued by the Deputy Commissioner of Police (Operations) and will remain in place until 12 A.M. on Sunday (Sunday-Monday). It further stated that violators will be prosecuted under IPC Section 188 and other legal measures.

 

"The order was granted to prohibit Omicron from jeopardizing human life as well as posing a threat to law and order in the aftermath of the violence in Amravati, Malegaon (Nashik), and Nanded," the order stated. Seven new Omicron variant cases were discovered in the state on Friday, bringing the total number of cases in the state to 17. Three of them were found in Mumbai, all males between the ages of 25 and 48, with recent travel histories to the United Kingdom, South Africa, and Tanzania.

 

The four new cases in Pune, including a three-and-a-half-year-old toddler, are close relatives of a Nigerian woman of Indian ancestry who was diagnosed with Omicron last Sunday. Meanwhile, despite being stopped by the police, AIMIM MP Imtiyaz Jaleel, who had left Aurangabad to join the demonstration, entered the city and attended the Tiranga rally in Chandiwali in the north west Mumbai. AIMIM leaders claimed that the Maha Vikas Aghadi government was unwilling to give the Muslim community a 5% reservation in education. They threatened that their fight would go on until they were given a reservation.

 

 

Image Courtesy: Twitter @asadowaisi