A Bench of Justices Sunil Shukre and MM Sathaye quashed a First Information Report (FIR) lodged against a Avijit Michael, who had sent messages to then Managing Director of Mumbai Metro Rail Corporation Ashwini Bhide urging her not to cut down over 3,000 trees in the city’s only green lung – Aarey Colony – for the purpose of metro construction.
On perusing the messages, the Court noted that the petitioner’s intention was only to protect the forest he considers to be acting like a pair of lungs for the city of Mumbai.
“These messages do not contain any offensive material or any obscenities. Rather, they appear to have been sent in assertion of a democratic right of citizen of this country to put forth his view point, to object, to protest, to persuade, to urge, and so on. It then follows that if anybody is booked for criminal offences such as those as have been registered against the present petitioner, it may amount to an invasion upon the rights of the citizens of this country,” the order stated.
Source: Barandbench
