HC lauds Mumbai cops for 'working against odds' amid COVID-19

Praising the Mumbai Police for working against all odds, the Bombay high court has said that the police personnel are carrying out their duty under a lot of pressure amid the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown, and hence cooperation from public is required.

A division bench of Justices S S Shinde and M S Karnik on Thursday also said that the Mumbai police are considered as one of the best in the world.

"The job of a police officer is difficult during these times of pandemic. The Mumbai police is already under a lot of pressure. They have to do 12-hour duty and then there are processions and morchas for which bandobast is required," Justice Shinde said.

"Among all these odds, Mumbai police is considered as one of the best in the world and is compared to the Scotland Yard police. Some amount of cooperation is required from people too," he said.

The remarks were made by the court while hearing a petition filed by a Navi Mumbai resident, Sunaina Holey, seeking to quash three FIRs lodged against her for allegedly promoting enmity hatred and ill-will among groups in the society after she posted offensive remarks against Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and minister Aaditya Thackeray on social media.

On Thursday, additional public prosecutor Jayesh Yagnik told the court that despite the notice issued to Holey, asking her to appear before the investigating officer of BKC Cyber Police for recording her statement, she did not appear.

Holey's counsel Abhinav Chandrachud said she could not appear due to health issues and assured the court that she would appear before the police on November 2.

The court accepted this and said, "We hope and expect that the petitioner (Holey) shall extend full cooperation for the investigation."

The court posted the plea for further hearing on November 23.