Mumbai: Kurla resident granted anticipatory bail after he agrees to carry out social responsibility
Rizwan Memon was arrested on April 29 for obstructing a team of police personnel from enforcing lockdown restrictions, which were imposed in mid-March to contain the spread of the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak.
The Bombay high court (HC) last week granted anticipatory bail to a Kurla resident and street vendor, Mohammed Rizwan Memon, after he agreed to carry out social responsibility by providing personal protective equipment (PPE) items such as 500 face masks and 500 sanitiser bottles of 100 millilitres (ml) each to Kurla police station authorities.
Memon was arrested on April 29 for obstructing a team of police personnel from enforcing lockdown restrictions, which were imposed in mid-March to contain the spread of the raging coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak.
Trouble broke out in the evening at Pipeline Road in Kurla on April 29, when Memon allegedly abused the policemen from enforcing the lockdown restrictions. The policemen were ordering the street vendors to shut their businesses as per the lockdown norms.
Memon was booked under Sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by a public servant), 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life) and 353 (assault or use of criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) along with section 51(b) (refuse to comply with directions issued by authorities) of the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
He had moved the HC for anticipatory bail, arguing that Section 353 of the IPC was the only non-bailable section invoked against him for his alleged offence.
Memon claimed that he didn’t intend to obstruct any government employee from discharging his public duty, but had only urged the police official to show his identity card since he was compelling the vegetable and fruit vendors to shut their businesses.
Memon’s lawyer, SR Samel, attributed the incident to the chaos and confusion over the lockdown restrictions and assured the court that his client in the future would never interfere in the work of the police.
Justice Abuja Prabhdessai granted Memon anticipatory bail last week after Samel stated that his client has agreed to carry out a social responsibility by providing PPE items such as 500 face masks and 500 sanitiser bottles of 100 ml each to Kurla police station authorities.