Charges include rioting, unlawful assembly, disobedience to order duly promulgated by government servant
Top opposition leaders in Bihar, including Rashtriya Janata Dal's (RJD) Tejashwi Yadav, have been booked in connection with the bandh organised in the city on the previous day in protest against the amended Citizenship Act and a proposed countrywide National Register for Citizens (NRC), the police said on Sunday.
According to a release issued by the Patna Police, Mr Yadav, a former deputy chief minister and currently leader of the opposition in the state assembly, is among 27 people mentioned by name in addition to "hundreds of unnamed ones" against whom an FIR was lodged late Saturday night at the Kotwali police station.
Prominent among those named are Rashtriya Lok Samata Party chief and former Union minister Upendra Kushwaha, RJD leaders Shivanand Tiwari (national vice-president, former state minister and ex-MP) Abdul Bari Siddiqui (MLA), Jagadanand Singh (state president and former MP) and Bhai Virendra (MLA), Congress president and MLC Madan Mohan Jha and MLAs Poonam Paswan and Shakil Ahmad.
The charges against all the accused include "staging a demonstration at the Dak Bungalow crossing without any permission from competent authority, raising slogans and disrupting vehicular traffic", the release said.
They have charges under rioting, unlawful assembly, disobedience to order duly promulgated by government servant, wrongful restraint, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace, public mischief and the Loudspeaker Act.
In addition, cases have been slapped on the aforementioned counts against CPI leader Kanhaiya Kumar and controversial politician Pappu Yadav who took part in the bandh organised by the Left parties on Thursday, Superintendent of Police, City, Vinay Tiwari said.
Besides, FIRs have been lodged against unidentified persons by journalists Prakash Singh of Republic TV and photojournalist Dinesh Kumar of Dainik Bhaskar, who have alleged that they were assaulted by bandh supporters on Saturday, the release added.