Navi Mumbai: Following the protest march by hundreds of PAPs from Panvel towards Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Mumbai, on Wednesday for the long-standing demand that Navi Mumbai International Airport be officially named after the farmers’ leader Late DB Patil, despite the police rejecting the permission, the Navi Mumbai police, after detaining around 300 protesting men and women, registered an FIR at Panvel City Police Station against them, including four persons who led the protest march.The accused named in the FIR are the young woman activist Rashmika Popeta, who launched an indefinite hunger strike from June 26 till July 4 for the airport name demand, her siblings Aditya Popeta and Abantika Popeta, and a social activist, Kantilal Kadu.Bala Kumbhar, senior inspector of Panvel City, said, “On Wednesday around 11 am, hundreds of PAPs gathered at Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Chowk in Panvel for starting protest march on Maharashtra Legislative Assembly, Mumbai. The police permission was rejected after considering the red alert due to heavy rains, police commissioner’s prohibition order of assembly of more than five persons and the ongoing monsoon session at the state assembly. The citizens were requested not to participate in the protest march or else legal action would be taken against those defying the police order. Hence, for defying the police order, around 300 protesters were detained as several of them, including their leaders, created obstacles for traffic movement as they squatted on the road when the police force tried to disperse them. Some women, including activist Rashmita Popeta and her two siblings, vehemently protested. “The protestors were booked under relevant BNS sections and Maharashtra Police Act, including preventing public servants from performing their duty. However, as per the provision of the law, the accused were served with a notice under the provision of Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita and released on the same day.
