Recently the Mumbai police have
been very active in hogging the limelight thanks to it overzealous Social Security
department. The raids on popular nightlife destinations in the city have
resulted in a lot of hue and cry across the media. These raids have found both
support and protest from different sections of the society. A bunch of
Mumbaikars have begun a movement called ‘Mumbai Unite’ to protect the citizens
of this cosmopolitan city. They say it’s not about the protecting the
nightlife, it’s about fighting to protect the fundamental rights of citizens
and protecting them from the khaki clad fanatics.
Mumbai’s image of a cosmopolitan
city has taken a hit thanks to these recent events. All of a sudden the police
department seems to have woken up from its slumber and it started enforcing
laws which are archaic and outdated. The city which is the face of a modern and
resurgent India is governed by laws that date back to the days of British Raj! On
one side we want to build a world class city, like the Dubai’s and Shanghai’s
of world, and on the other side we are still running our city with an old,
crumbling legal system. It’s a tussle between the ones trying to take the city
into the future and those who want to hold on to the old ways. Such thinking is
only dragging the city’s progress and is in a way responsible for the mess the
city finds itself in.
The dreaded act that is being
used to terrorize ordinary citizens is called the ‘Bombay Prohibition Act’. It
is important to understand the provisions of this law to ensure that you don’t
become a victim of it. The law enacted in 1949, says that any person in Mumbai
who wishes to consume alcohol needs to carry a drinking permit. This drinking
permit comes in the form of a Rs.5 one day permit and a Rs.1,000/- lifetime
permit. A license holder is permitted to hold 12 units of alcohol at any time.
Anyone found consuming alcohol without this permit is liable for a fine of Rs. 50,000
or 5 years in Jail or both! The trouble here is not only the law, but the way
it is enforced and the practicalities of enforcing it!
If the objective of this law is
to dissuade the janta from consuming
alcohol, then we are sorry to say that a Rs.1000/- permit is not a big
deterrent for anyone. And how in the world are the police or anybody going to
keep a check on the people consuming alcohol in the safe confines of their
homes? What about visitors, will they be handed over a permit at the airport? In
a corrupt country like ours this is just another, rather powerful, tool in the
hands of those who will go to any lengths to exhort money out of innocent
citizens. And the Mumbai police have been using this tool very effectively to
harass ordinary citizens. If the intention really was to enforce the law then
their targets would not have only been the swanky pubs of Bandra. There are
numerous places where one can consume alcohol and not all of those are in
Bandra!
So how do the people who have
gathered under the banner of ‘Mumbai Unite’ plan to fight for the fundamental
rights of Mumbaikars? Mumbai Unite, a
group formed by concerned Mumbaikars, who have no allegiance to any political
party, believes that if the establishment expects citizens to follow the rules
then they must first educate people about these rules. After all, before these
raids began how many of us were even of such an Act? Raiding places and
harassing common citizens is not the way to ensure that laws are followed. Treating
women with disrespect by calling them ‘Prostitutes’
just because their way of dressing doesn’t fit into your myopic definitions of
culture and tradition, is definitely not the mark of sanity. Doing drugs is definitely
wrong, but criminalizing people for it is not the way to solve this menace. It
is problem which needs to be solved by creating more awareness among the youth.
Mumbai Unite has come out with a
petition asking the establishment to ensure that these raids are stopped and
the perpetrators behind these ghastly acts be brought to justice. It seeks to
invoke the same law that the Social Service Branch of Mumbai Police refers to, ‘The
Bombay Prohibition Act’. Sections of this act clearly specify how the policemen
should behave when conducting searches, and from what we have been hearing
about these raids, the police’s behaviour is in complete violation of the law.
Using these sections of the law, the petition demands action against these so
called moral police. In addition to asking people to sign up the petition,
Mumbai Unite will soon go knocking on the doors of MLA’s and corporator’s
seeking their support for their petition. This move will surely put many a
corporator’s and MLA’s in a fix, as they will have to choose sides now. They
will have to let people know who they support, the citizens of their wards who
voted to bring them to power or the police who have been troubling innocent
citizens.
Mumbaikars, who are part of
Mumbai Unite, do not deny the fact that rules should be followed; in fact they
would be more than happy to follow rules. It is all about how suitable these
rules are to our modern style of living and the way in which the police go
about ensuring the enforcement of laws. There is no hiding from the fact that
these rules are outdated and need an overhaul. And if you want to impose such
rules then why target certain people, why not enforce these laws on everyone.
Why only check cars for permits, why not check the people in the numerous celebrations
that take place on the roads of Mumbai? Mumbai Unite just wants to make the
establishment realize this simple fact. Mumbai Unite is on a mission to reclaim
the city of Mumbai for its citizens and we hope that every Mumbaikar supports
their cause.
