Under the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC), section 149, the Palghar Police issued preventive notices to a well-known poet and author Simon Martin and many other activists, social workers who reside in Vasai.
The notices were sent on April 14th. The police had promised to take the notices back but nothing has happened yet. According to the police, the notices have been issued to habitual criminals and offenders who have repeated their acts under all police stations in Palghar.
110 notices were issued by the Vasai police to Martin, 56, an activist and social worker along with Marcus Dabre, another activist and Domnica Dabre. Martin is an award winner of the state and central government since he has contributed a lot to the society and literary field.
The notice sent to him started bothering people. In conversation with Mid-Day, Martin said, “This is the beginning of the Emergency. I am not concerned with politics. I don’t have a criminal record, I don’t know why the notice was issued to me. When I called the SP, he said he will take it back. I told him to give this to me in writing, but he did not reply. I will meet him tomorrow and if he does not take back the notice, I will approach higher authorities. I will also ask them on whose order they issued the notice to me.”
Marcus Dabre said, “I have committed more than 40 years to society by working with several NGOs and associations. At this age do you think I can create a nuisance in the area? The notice further stated that since I am associated with several organisations, if any of the workers associated with me create a nuisance, I will be held accountable.”
Whereas Domnica Dabre also shared her sentiments with Mid-Day, she said, “I have been fighting for the welfare of the people in Palghar for a very long time. This is just a tactic to suppress the voice of people like me.”
The authors and activists received these notices on Sunday morning and decided to visit the police station on which they were told that the notices would be taken back. Gaurav Singh, Superintendent of Police, Palghar, said, “The notices were sent by mistake. We have conveyed this to them. A note has been made in the diary of the police station and we have taken back our orders.”
The police have denied giving anything in writing about taking the notices back and with their verbal commitments, nothing is getting done.