Mumbai: 4 MNS leaders arrested for defying COVID-19 curbs

The MNS leaders demanded that common citizens also be allowed to travel in suburban trains. Deshpande and three other MNS leaders were arrested on Tuesday by the Government Railway Police (GRP), the official said.

MNS general secretary Sandeep Deshpande and three other party leaders were arrested on Tuesday, a day after they boarded local trains demanding that the services be made available to the general public, railway police said. Deshpande and some other leaders of the Raj Thackeray-led Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) on Monday traveled in local trains between Shelu and Karjat suburban stations on the Central Railway route as part of their "savinay kaydebhang" (civil disobedience) protest.

The local train services in Mumbai and suburbs are currently available only for essential services staff and government employees in view of the COVID-19 outbreak. The MNS leaders demanded that common citizens also be allowed to travel in suburban trains.

Deshpande and three other MNS leaders were arrested on Tuesday by the Government Railway Police (GRP), the official said. A case was registered against them by Karjat GRP under IPC Sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 269 (negligent act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), and the Disaster Management Act, the Indian Railways Act and other COVID-19 prevention measures of Maharashtra, he said.