NCPCR seeks FIR against Aaditya Thackeray over presence of minors in 'Save Aarey' protest

On Monday, National Commission for Protection Of Child Rights (NCPCR) demanded an FIR against Shiv Sena MLA and former Maharashtra Minister Aitya Thackeray. In a letter dressed to Mumbai Police Commissioner Vivek Phansalkar, NCPCR registrar Anu Chaudhary referred to a complaint received from an organization named Sahyri Rights Forum which accused Thackeray of using minors in 'Save Aarey' protests. According to her, this constituted an offence under Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection of Children) Act, Child and olescent Labour (Prohibition and Regulation) Act, Article 21 and IPC.

NCPCR registrar asserted, "In view of above, Commission reby requests you to investigate matter urgently by lodging an FIR against accused person (s) at once. children should be identified and produced before Child Welfare Committee as per Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 for recording ir statements. An action taken report along with copy of FIR and statement of children may be shared with Commission within 3 days of receipt of this letter." 

Row over Metro car shed in Aarey

Mumbai Metro 3 project comprises a 33.5 km underground corridor running along Colaba-Bandra-SEEPZ route. In total, re will be 27 stations out of which 26 will be underground. Over 96% of tunnelling work has been completed. re has been a long dispute regarding location of Metro car shed. According to environmental activists, Aarey is a forest area and any construction work would hamper ecological balance. On or hand,  erstwhile Devendra Fnavis regime highlighted that long-term gains of project would offshoot temporary damage caused due to felling of trees.  

Widespre protests were held against  Aarey land being utilised for purpose of building a car shed for Mumbai Metro 3. As Bombay High Court upheld permission granted by Brihanmumbai Mumbai Corporation’s (BMC) Tree Authority in October 2019, over 2,185 trees were razed overnight. This led to a petition in SC that ordered a freeze on cutting of any more trees till furr orders. After taking over as CM in November 2019, Uddhav Thackeray asserted that a single leaf of Aarey would not be cut for constructing car shed.

On October 11, 2020, Thackeray announced that car shed will be shifted from Aarey to Kanjurmarg and no cost will be incurred for purpose. However, Bombay HC stayed transfer of 102-acre land in Kanjurmarg to Mumbai Metropolitan Region Development Authority (MMRDA) for construction of car shed on December 16, 2020. After formation of Eknath Shinde-led government, protests again started over public intent expressed by Fnavis to shift car shed back to Aarey. Both Uddhav and Aitya Thackeray have vehemently opposed this proposal.