A quarrel broke out between two groups on Mumbai’s Mira Road following an assault on cars flying saffron flags. It took the police more than an hour to calm things down. There have been 13 arrests thus far.
MUMBAI: After a video surfaced on Sunday night depicting vehicles with saffron flags being attacked in Nayanagar, two groups of people started chanting slogans and throwing stones at one other, causing tension to rise on Mira Road on Monday afternoon. It took the police almost 1.5 hours to calm things down and scatter the throng, although it was unclear whether anybody was hurt in Monday’s event.
Devendra Fadnavis, the deputy chief minister, promised that there would be no tolerance for anyone who decided to enforce the law themselves. “I gathered detailed information regarding what had happened in Nayanagar last night itself,” he said. “I was constantly in touch with the Mira Bhayender police commissioner till 3.30am, and police were instructed to take strictest action against the culprits.” Following the incident on Monday, a company of state reserve police—which has 120 members—was sent to the Mira Bhayander Vasai Virar police, according to a senior IPS official.
Thirteen persons were taken into custody by the Nayanagar police in Mira Road on Sunday night for reportedly throwing stones at cars flying saffron flags as they made their way to a parade in advance of the Ram temple’s dedication in Ayodhya. According to police, a group of 50–60 individuals assaulted participants with knives and threw stones at cars that were taking part in the parade. A total of 24 people were hurt in the event, four of them seriously.
Vinod Babulal Jaiswal, 43, a shopkeeper, filed a complaint with the Nayanagar police, stating that at around 10 p.m., he and his family were riding in a four-wheeler from Bhayandar to Mira Road, according to the FIR that was filed. Eleven two-wheelers and three or four more four-wheelers followed them.
Jaiswal informed the police that they made a U-turn and were heading towards Bhayandar when they came across heavy traffic on Lodha Road in Nayanagar. Shortly after, a guy stopped in front of their vehicle. He instructed them to wait five minutes, and he would see what his Ram could do to save them.
He said that shortly after, a group of 50–60 guys assembled at the location brandishing rods, sticks, weights, and bottles and starting to smash stones into the cars and break the windows with the rods. The guys broke the glass panes as they charged towards us while yelling slogans. In his statement to the police, Jaiswal said that “they broke the saffron flags on our vehicles and threw them on the road.”
He tried to get out of the car as the glass was smashed, but a guy came charging at him and stabbed him with a knife. “I had a cut on my neck,” Jaiswal stated. He said that the assailants also attacked ladies and children while they were in their cars. When police arrived at the location at 10.40 p.m., the situation was under control.
The Indian Penal Code has sections such as 307 (attempt to murder), 341 (wrongful restraint), 295(A) (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 153(A) (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of region), 141 (unlawful assembly), 143 (being a member of unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 149 (common intent in regards to unlawful assembly), and 427 (mischief causing damage of property). A case against the mob has been filed at the Nayanagar police station, according to Jayant Bajbale, deputy commissioner of police, Nayanagar.
He said, “We are trying to find the other 13 people that we have arrested.”
By HHM