Mumbai, Jan 10: The metropolitan magistrate court has acquitted Congress MP Varsha Gaikwad and NCP leader Zeeshan Siddique, who were booked for being part of an unlawful assembly by holding a rally on Gandhi Jayanti in 2023.
Other accused also acquitted
Apart from Gaikwad and Siddique, the court has acquitted Charanjitsingh Sapra, Armaity Irani, Rakhi Jadhav, Sandeep Shukla, Shaukat Shaikh and Hussain Dalwai, observing that “the place of offence is a crowded area, but the prosecution failed to examine any independent witnesses to prove the charges of unlawful assembly against the accused.”
No evidence of unlawful object
“It is the prosecution case that the accused were carrying out a rally on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti. There is no evidence to show that the accused assembled there with unlawful objects,” the court said while acquitting them all.
Case registered at Azad Maidan police station
As per the case lodged with Azad Maidan police station, on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, police officials were patrolling the area around Metro cinema.
The police noticed a huge mob near Metro cinema, which was part of the rally taken out on the occasion of Mahatma Gandhi Jayanti. However, since the rally was proceeding from a route other than the permitted route, it was stopped and a case was lodged.
Permission route not established
After considering the prosecution witnesses, all of whom were police personnel, the court noted that none of the police officers had seen the permission letter granted to the accused for the rally.
Besides, the court said, “there was permission to hold the rally from Colaba to Mantralay. It is alleged that the accused went on a route which was not permitted. But none of the prosecution witnesses has seen the permission copy for the rally.” Hence, the court said the prosecution failed to prove for which route permission was granted.
Misidentification of accused noted
The court further observed that there was misidentification of the accused. One of the officers identified a person present in the court as one of the accused who was part of the rally, but in fact, the person was not connected with the crime.
“Therefore, the grave question of the authenticity of the police witness is raised in the present matter,” the court said.
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Charges not proved beyond doubt
“There is no evidence in respect of the unlawful object of the accused. It is a case of the prosecution that the accused carried out a rally on a route which was not permitted. But a copy of the permission is not placed on record. Some photographs are placed on record, but the identity of the accused and the place is not proved through those photographs. There is no evidence regarding wrongful restraint of people on public roads. Therefore, the prosecution has failed to prove the charge against the accused beyond reasonable doubt,” the court said while acquitting all the accused.
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