Overview
- On December 22, Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate V. U. Misal of the Bandra metropolitan magistrate court convicted 52-year-old Nitin Sheth for feeding pigeons in a public place.
- The court held him guilty under BNS Sections 223(b) and 271 for disobeying a lawful order and for a negligent act likely to spread infection.
- Sheth pleaded guilty voluntarily and was ordered to pay Rs 5,000 in fines, split as Rs 3,000 and Rs 2,000 on the two counts.
- Mahim police had booked him on August 1 for offering grain near the kabutarkhana on LJ Road close to Hinduja Hospital.
- Reports describe this as the first conviction since the High Court directed action after the BMC’s restrictions, underscoring an ongoing divide between public-health concerns and customary feeding practices.