For those who support Activist Tabrez in his fight for protecting Aarey forest, there is a petition on change.org by Save Aarey activists which appeals to the authorities to uphold our constitutional right to peaceful protest and drop the charges against Tabrez https://chng.it/dCGF2TYy Kindly sign the petition and support the peaceful protests at Aarey.

Activist Tabrez Ali Sayed (29) received an externment notice in two cases against him from Mumbai's Powai police jurisdiction and three others related to his involvement in the Save Aarey protests. Tabrez says, “The police notice seeking my reply on the externment issue reply on the externment issue has been served under Section 56(1)(A) of the Maharashtra Police Act, 1951, to remove me from the areas of Mumbai city, Mumbai suburbs, Palghar and Thane districts.”

The Supreme Court observed that externment is not an ordinary measure and it must be resorted to sparingly and in extraordinary circumstances. The effect of the order of externment is of depriving a citizen of his fundamental right of free movement throughout the territory of India. It will amount to imposing unreasonable restrictions on the fundamental right guaranteed under clause (d) of 19(1) of the Constitution of India. Experts believe that the recourse should be taken to Section 56 very sparingly keeping in mind that it is an extraordinary measure. For invoking clause (a) of sub-section (1) of Section 56, there must be objective material on record based on which the competent authority must record its subjective satisfaction that the movements or acts of any person are causing or calculated to cause alarm, danger or harm to persons or property.

In the case of Tabrez, he has been actively and strongly opposing the proposal of the construction of a Metro car shed inside Aarey forest. Since when did protecting the environment and forests become unconstitutional? It is a request to the authorities to stop misusing their powers and respect the citizens’ fundamental right to protest.