Thanks to a plea by two activists, the detention powers of the Mumbai police are under the High Court scanner

For two city activists, a recent visit by an American dignitary meant spending a night in jail simply because the Mumbai police felt they might pose some embarrassment to the VIP visitor. Now, thanks to their prompt reaction, the detention powers of the Mumai police force have come under the Bombay High Court’s scanner.

Activists Feroze Mithiboriwala (41) of Awami Bharat and Aslam Gazi (57) of Jamat-e-Islam were detained by the police apprehending some offence during the recent visit by the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

There’s nothing surprising about police resorting to using the archaic detention powers under Section 151 of the Criminal Procedure Code. But now, following the petition moved by the activists, the court will dissect the section to streamline the detention powers of the police, a move that is expected to shrink the number of illegal detention cases.

A strong believer in the Gandhian movement, Feroze feels that it is their strong anti-American and anti-Zionist school of thought that prompted the reaction from the police.

While Feroze, who started his activities in 1987 and worked with various organisations, believes in creating a meeting point between Gandhi’s and Ambedkar’s ideologies to bridge the gap between Muslim and Non-Muslim communities, Gazi and his organisation are committed towards safeguarding the rights of Muslims and preventing fascist parties from reaching the helm of affairs.

“We are being targeted for our extremist and fundamentalist ideas. We are being targeted for our America-Israel quit India policy,” Feroze says.

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