The judgment was delivered on Thursday, within three days of the man being booked by the police. WANDERING ON the street late at night when there is no night curfew is not an offence, a Mumbai court said in a recent order while acquitting a 29-year-old man booked by Mumbai Police for sitting on a road in South Mumbai “under suspicious circumstances”. The court said that in a city like Mumbai, 1.30 am is “not too late”.
The judgment was delivered on Thursday, within three days of the man being booked by the police.
“The accused was arrested in Mumbai at around 1.30 am. In a city like Mumbai, 1.30 am is not too late. Anyone can stand on or near the road. Therefore, it cannot be termed as hiding identity with intent to commit an offence. Even if it is assumed that 1.30 am is too late, then also wandering on the street is not an offence when there is no night curfew. Admittedly, there is no night curfew in Mumbai, therefore if the accused was standing on the road, it is not an offence,” the court said.
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The police had booked Sumit Kashyap, a resident of Uttar Pradesh, on June 13 at Cadbury Junction in South Mumbai under Section 122 (b) of the Maharashtra Police Act. The section has provisions for booking a person found between sunrise and sunset for “having his face covered or otherwise disguised with intent to commit an offence”.
Police claimed that Kashyap was “hiding his face with a handkerchief” and did not give a proper explanation as to why he was sitting there. He was then booked under the Act, claiming that he was intending to commit theft.
The court said that provisions of the Act require that the police prove that the accused was hiding his identity to commit an offence. “In the present matter, nowhere is it stated by the witnesses what offence was the accused intending to commit,” the court said.
The court also did not agree with the police that the accused was hiding his face by using a handkerchief.
“It is the Covid period and people (are) used to wearing a mask for safety purposes. Though a mask is not compulsory, but there is an advisory to wear the mask. If anyone is not having a mask, then they use handkerchief as a mask and if the accused is using the handkerchief as a mask to cover his mouth, it does not mean that he is hiding his identity,” the court said.
It pointed out that when asked, the accused had told his name to the police, therefore it cannot be said that he was hiding his identity.
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