Mumbai, Oct 22 (PTI) The Mumbai Police have been issuing show-cause notices to participants in protests here against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and attack on JNU students, asking them to sign a bond of good behaviour and furnish sureties in the range of Rs 5 lakh to 50 lakh.

Copies of the notices, which were issued under section 107 (security for keeping the peace) and 110 (security for good behaviour from habitual offender) of the CrPC as a part of chapter proceedings by the Special Executive Magistrate and Assistant Commissioner of Police, have been accessedby PTI.

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Many of the notices were issued in September and the participants were asked to appear before the divisional ACP on various dates in October, said one of the protesters, who received such a notice, on Thursday.

Some of the protesters, who have filed their reply to the notices, have been called again on November 7, he said.

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Hundreds of people had gathered at Hutatma Chowk in South Mumbai on January 6 to protest against the attack on students of the Jawaharlal Nehru University, Delhi. They were also opposing the Citizenship Amendment Act.

Protesters later moved to the Gateway of India, just a short distance from Hutatma Chowk, and continued their agitation.

The police had registered FIRs at the Mata Ramabai Ambedkar Marg and Colaba Police Stations against the participants and organisers of the protests.

Months later, the police started issuing notices to the participants, asking them to sign a bond for one or two years of good behaviour and sureties in the range of Rs 5 to 50 lakh as a part of preventive action to maintain law and order in the city.

Suvarna Salve, a student and member of the Samta Kala Manch, received a notice under section 110 of the CrPC in August from the MRA Marg Police Station.

The notice asked her to sign a bond of good behaviour and furnish a surety of Rs 50 lakh, she said.

I had participated in the protests to express solidarity with the JNU students who were attacked, Salve told PTI.

Protest is a constitutional right, but the police are considering us as habitual offenders. We feel sad that students are being targeted by the police, she said.

Another agitator, 22-year-old Vinit Vichare, was asked to furnish a surety of Rs 5 lakh and sign a bond of good behaviour.

Vichare said when he went to appear before the ACP at the Azad Maidan police station along with seven others, they were asked to come again on November 7.

Ishrat Khan, who is lawyer of some of the protesters, said his clients plan to challenge the issuance of the notices in the Bombay High Court.

Feroz Mithiborwala, a member of the national working committee of Hum Bharat Ke Log, said he has been asked to appear before the ACP of Colaba on October 29.

He had taken part in the protest at the Gateway of India.

Besides, some of the Mumbai Baug (anti-CAA-NRC protest site at Nagpada) agitators have also received such notices.

We have issued two notices to the participants of the Mumbai Baug protest," said an officer of the Tardeo police division.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)