OVER ACTIVISM
Vigilante gone bonkers
Yogesh Sadhwani
Yogesh Sadhwani
The culture of vigilantism and mob justice that’s seeping into urban life after numerous such incidents in smaller districts across India, claimed another victim on a Mumbai local train.
Amruta, who had given birth to her fourth child just three days before, boarded the ladies compartment of the CST-Kalyan local with her newborn at around 8.30 pm at Dadar station. Her husband Maltan, a small-time supplier of jewellery parts, got on the general compartment next door, as the family headed towards their kacha tin-sheet house in Dombivli’s pathrali locality.
No sooner did she get on the train than the problem began – her only sin that her graying hair made her look much older than 42. Amruta’s companions in the compartment, intrigued by the four-day-old baby girl in her arms, suspected something was not right in this picture of a new-born child with an ‘old’ woman. Word spread, and in a few minutes, without any evidence or inquiry, the buzz in the compartment was that Amruta had stolen the baby, probably from a government hospital.
Almost at once, the passengers decided to rise together to effect justice of right and wrong. "They started accusing of me having stolen the baby. Despite my telling them time and again that she was my daughter, they didn’t believe me," Amruta said.
Convinced that they’d nabbed a child-thief, they told Amruta that a woman of her age could not have given birth to the child. They called her names, insisted that she get off at the next station and accompanied to the cops.
Amruta explained that her husband was in the next compartment and she would get off at Dombivli. But throughout the hour-long journey, the women kept at it. "They insisted that I hand over the girl to them. If some women got off at a station, others got on and started heckling me. Everybody just ganged up, no matter when they boarded," she said.
Cops no different
When Amruta eventually got off at Dombivli, about 15 other women who were also getting off at the station, caught her and dragged her to the railway police. Her husband Maltan, who got off from the next compartment, noticed the commotion but couldn’t get close to intervene because of a fast-gathering crowd around his wife and daughter.
"I could see something was wrong. The women were holding my wife trying to snatch our daughter from her," he said. Maltan followed the crowd to the railway police post and tried telling the mob that he was the father of the child but was pushed away. "They said an old man like me cannot father a child at this age."
With a frenzy building up, despite the lack of evidence or foreknowledge the railway police joined in and, instead of shooing the crowd away, bowed to their whim and promised to conduct an investigation. "The commuters believed, that the woman claimed to be the mother, had stolen the baby from a hospital. They kept telling us about a theft at Sion hospital last year and that this woman could be behind it. We had no choice," Sub-Inspector N Dawre said.
The cops ignored Amruta’s pleas for more than two hours, until they made arrangements to send her to the Shastri Nagar Municipal hospital. "It was so humiliating. The doctors carried out an examination. They checked if I was lactating. I had to go through hell, all thanks to women who believed in conspiracy theories and refused to listen to reason," Amruta said, breaking down in tears.
It was only at 1:30 am, after the hospital confirmed that she was indeed the child’s mother, that amruta and her husband were allowed to leave the police station.
No records
The next day, when Maltan went back to the cops to lodge a complaint against the women on the train, he was told that there was no information about their whereabouts, that they had simply handed over his wife and left without even lodging a complaint. When contacted, GRP Deputy Commissioner Ashok Deshbhrtar defended how the cops had handled the problem. "The mob brought the lady to us and demanded a verification. As per the rules, we took her to a Government–run hospital. Since there have been instances of kidnapping, so we didn’t take any risk."
Both advocate Ayaz Khan, who deals with human rights cases, said police should’ve acted with more care, and at least maintained a record so that members of the mob could be brought to book later.
"In such a situation, it’s the duty of the cops to look at both sides. Its difficult to prosecute a whole group of people, but the police needs to note down addresses of people who have come to them, so that an aggrieved person can file a case against the culprits."
Amruta, who had given birth to her fourth child just three days before, boarded the ladies compartment of the CST-Kalyan local with her newborn at around 8.30 pm at Dadar station. Her husband Maltan, a small-time supplier of jewellery parts, got on the general compartment next door, as the family headed towards their kacha tin-sheet house in Dombivli’s pathrali locality.
No sooner did she get on the train than the problem began – her only sin that her graying hair made her look much older than 42. Amruta’s companions in the compartment, intrigued by the four-day-old baby girl in her arms, suspected something was not right in this picture of a new-born child with an ‘old’ woman. Word spread, and in a few minutes, without any evidence or inquiry, the buzz in the compartment was that Amruta had stolen the baby, probably from a government hospital.
Almost at once, the passengers decided to rise together to effect justice of right and wrong. "They started accusing of me having stolen the baby. Despite my telling them time and again that she was my daughter, they didn’t believe me," Amruta said.
Convinced that they’d nabbed a child-thief, they told Amruta that a woman of her age could not have given birth to the child. They called her names, insisted that she get off at the next station and accompanied to the cops.
Amruta explained that her husband was in the next compartment and she would get off at Dombivli. But throughout the hour-long journey, the women kept at it. "They insisted that I hand over the girl to them. If some women got off at a station, others got on and started heckling me. Everybody just ganged up, no matter when they boarded," she said.
Cops no different
When Amruta eventually got off at Dombivli, about 15 other women who were also getting off at the station, caught her and dragged her to the railway police. Her husband Maltan, who got off from the next compartment, noticed the commotion but couldn’t get close to intervene because of a fast-gathering crowd around his wife and daughter.
"I could see something was wrong. The women were holding my wife trying to snatch our daughter from her," he said. Maltan followed the crowd to the railway police post and tried telling the mob that he was the father of the child but was pushed away. "They said an old man like me cannot father a child at this age."
With a frenzy building up, despite the lack of evidence or foreknowledge the railway police joined in and, instead of shooing the crowd away, bowed to their whim and promised to conduct an investigation. "The commuters believed, that the woman claimed to be the mother, had stolen the baby from a hospital. They kept telling us about a theft at Sion hospital last year and that this woman could be behind it. We had no choice," Sub-Inspector N Dawre said.
The cops ignored Amruta’s pleas for more than two hours, until they made arrangements to send her to the Shastri Nagar Municipal hospital. "It was so humiliating. The doctors carried out an examination. They checked if I was lactating. I had to go through hell, all thanks to women who believed in conspiracy theories and refused to listen to reason," Amruta said, breaking down in tears.
It was only at 1:30 am, after the hospital confirmed that she was indeed the child’s mother, that amruta and her husband were allowed to leave the police station.
No records
The next day, when Maltan went back to the cops to lodge a complaint against the women on the train, he was told that there was no information about their whereabouts, that they had simply handed over his wife and left without even lodging a complaint. When contacted, GRP Deputy Commissioner Ashok Deshbhrtar defended how the cops had handled the problem. "The mob brought the lady to us and demanded a verification. As per the rules, we took her to a Government–run hospital. Since there have been instances of kidnapping, so we didn’t take any risk."
Both advocate Ayaz Khan, who deals with human rights cases, said police should’ve acted with more care, and at least maintained a record so that members of the mob could be brought to book later.
"In such a situation, it’s the duty of the cops to look at both sides. Its difficult to prosecute a whole group of people, but the police needs to note down addresses of people who have come to them, so that an aggrieved person can file a case against the culprits."
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