Pune: Police on Saturday detained 92 people from different parts of the city for allegedly trying to take out a rally without permission demanding the resignation of chief election commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and revocation of SIR of electoral rolls, and released all of them after a few hours.Deputy commissioner of police (Zone I) Krushikesh Rawale said, “A total of 85 protesters were detained from the Lal Mahal area (near Shaniwarwada) and taken to Cantonment police station.” Seven other protesters detained from other parts of the city were also taken to Cantonment police station. “We released the 92 protesters later in the evening,” said deputy commissioner of police (Zone II) Rajlaxmi Shivankar.Pune city police earlier denied permission to protest near Shaniwarwada. But several people maintained that peaceful protest was their constitutional right in a democracy.The 85 people, including youths belonging to various political and social groups, detained from the Lal Mahal area had tried to assemble at Shaniwarwada in the afternoon. They had planned to march to the collector’s office. The detainees were taken to Cantonment police station.Additional commissioner of police, Pune, Manoj Patil, said, “We temporarily detained people because they were taking out a rally without permission.”A large number of people gathered in front of Cantonment police station and raised slogans demanding release of the detainees. The detainees continued with their protest inside the police station.For a few hours on Saturday, dark basalt and clay brick Shaniwarwada appeared to have travelled back centuries, reclaiming its original avatar of a fortress, with a modern twist. Khaki-clad police personnel guarded its basalt walls and yellow barricades fortified its perimeter to repel protestors carrying colourful slogans and placards. Once the protestors arrived at Lal Mahal Chowk, they were bundled into dark blue police vans and whisked away.T Lalita of Revolutionary Workers’ Party of India (RWPI) said, “The police were waiting for us. The moment we arrived, we were taken in. We want Gyanesh Kumar to be prosecuted. We also want elections conducted during his regime to be repealed and held again.”Somnath Nirmal of Students’ Federation of India (SFI) said, “The way police handled protestors was wrong and undemocratic. Till the time Gyanesh Kumar doesn’t resign, we will continue to hold such protests across Maharashtra.”Sangpraksh Kamble, a Fergusson College student protesting outside Cantonment police station, said, “I have come because the freedom to dissent is the sign of a healthy democracy and I want to save it. I don’t belong to any political party or outfit, but I feel the entire process of SIR has been wrong, and I want it to be revoked.”Anub George, a detainee, said more sporadic protests would spring a surprise in the city in the next few days. “I was at Shaniwarwada at 3pm and by 3.02pm, police started bundling us into vans. Policewomen were a bit more brutal than policemen. They forcibly dragged the women protestors. Some women protesters suffered bruises. We were asked to write down our names, and then released around 7.30pm,” said George.A citizens’ protest with similar demands would be held near the passport office on Baner-Pashan Link Road around 11.30am on Sunday. “Police have denied permission, but we will go ahead with the protest. Protesting peacefully is our democratic right and nobody can deny it to us,” said Sameer Uttarkar, the coordinator of the demonstration.
