The Forum for Constitutional Democracy (FCD) has questioned the Delhi Police claims that Leader of Opposition in Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi and the Parliament members had assaulted them.

The FCD wondered whether people would really believe such allegations made in the First Information Reports (FIR) against Mr. Gandhi and other Parliament members.

In a statement issued in Hyderabad, the FCD convenor K. Ramachandra Murthy and others, including former Supreme Court judge Justice B. Sudershan Reddy, described the registration of criminal cases against Mr. Gandhi and other parliamentarians as a “heavy-handed overreach” by the law enforcement authorities.

Terming the denial of the right to peaceful demonstration an “attack on democracy”, the FCD said Jantar Mantar, a recognised venue for peaceful dissent, was heavily cordoned off by police personnel on October 7. It alleged that Opposition leaders who sought directions from the police on where they could stage a peaceful demonstration were instead detained.

The FCD said the right to assemble and demonstrate peacefully was guaranteed by the Constitution and was part of the legacy of the freedom struggle. Denying elected representatives of Opposition parties the right to protest, it said, violated constitutional principles and undermined the democratic structure.

“If lawmakers themselves cannot demonstrate in this country, who can?” the forum asked, while condemning what it termed the “authoritarian actions and hostile posture” of the police. Others who signed the statement included G. Haragopal, Shantha Sinha, Rama Melkote, Telangana Press Academy chairman K. Sreenivas Reddy, MLC M. Kodandaram, D. Narsimha Reddy, Gopal Reddy Gade and senior advocate G. Jyothy Kiran.