Won't pay Rs 260 fine; catch Mallya first, says ticket-less traveller

Mumbai, Mar 23: A 44-year-old woman caught for travelling without a ticket has chosen to go to jail for seven days instead of paying a fine of Rs 260, saying the authorities should first arrest and recover the loan dues from liquor baron Vijay Mallya.

Premlata Bhansali, a mother of two who lives in a high-rise in plush Bhuleshwar area in south Mumbai, was caught by a ticket-checker on Sunday at the Mahalaxmi station.

Asked to pay the fine, Bhansali, according to the Railway Police, said they should first arrest Mallya who owes the banks more than Rs 9,000 crore.

“She was produced in the magistrate's court and asked to pay the fine. But she declined and chose to go to jail for seven days,” said Anand Vijay Jha, senior divisional security commissioner of Mumbai division, Western Railway.

A Railway Protection Force officer said that a lady police constable tried to persuade the woman to pay the paltry fine. “But she spent nearly 12 hours arguing with railway officials, demanding to know why the authorities were going soft on Mallya and harassing the common man.”

The police even summoned her husband Ramesh Bhansali but she refused to pay the fine and insisted on serving the seven-day jail term, the officer said.