Mumbai Police Detain Mahatma Gandhi’s Great-Grandson Ahead of Protest Against Chief Election Commissioner
India: Mumbai police on Saturday detained activist Tushar Gandhi, the great-grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, while he was heading to August Kranti Maidan for a planned demonstration in support of a protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Gandhi, who heads the organisation Hum Bharat Ke Log, was picked up from Bandra and taken to DN Nagar police station. Activist Feeroz Mithiborwala was also detained from his residence and shifted to the MIDC police station, officials said.
The gathering had been scheduled for 3.30 pm at August Kranti Maidan in solidarity with the Cockroach Janta Party (CJP) protest at Delhi’s Jantar Mantar. The CJP has called for the resignation of the CEC over allegations of irregularities in the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls and related voter registration processes.
Police said no application seeking permission for the Mumbai event had been submitted to Gamdevi police station and none had been granted. Authorities noted that August Kranti Maidan is not a designated protest site under Bombay High Court orders, as the land falls under the Archaeological Survey of India, and that only locations such as Azad Maidan are permitted for demonstrations.
Gandhi had shared a poster on X the previous day urging people to join the protest. On social media he described the police action as an arrest, while officers maintained it was a preventive detention. He stated that the protest would continue despite his custody.
Similar preventive action was reported in Delhi, where hundreds of protesters, including student activists, were detained amid tightened security around Jantar Mantar.
