Bombay Police's ugly face

[email protected] (The Milli Gazette )
November 26, 2012

original_mg-mumbai-police

Mumbai Police earned laurels for its restraint at Azad Maidan but bared its ugly face inside police stations and Arthur Road jail with the youth arrested in the wake of the rioting at the Maidan. One of its victims is 26-year-old Abbas Ujjainwala who was picked up by the cops for no rhyme or reason and seven of his teeth knocked out. Later, CCTV footage established that he was in Kurla at the time riots erupted at Azad Maidan.


According to a report in Free Press Journal (29 August), on August 11, it was not just the rioters who behaved like hooligans but the law enforcers too behaved like rioters, going on mindless rampage of their own and breaking seven teeth of a young boy who wasn't even part of the riots. The Rapid Action Force  beat up 26-year-old Abbas Ujjainwala on the night of August 11 when he went to Azad Maidan looking for a friend. Abbas, who was at home when the riots took place early in the evening, had gone to Azad Maidan at 9:30 PM after the riots stopped, to look for his friend who hadn't returned from the protest meet.


On seeing him, the RAF men thrashed him with batons, knocking out seven of his teeth. He was arrested and, incidentally, acquitted by the court on 28 August. A CCTV installed in Taxi Mens Colony, Kurla, where he resides, came to his rescue. The footage showed Ujjainwala shopping near his house at the time vandals were wreaking havoc at Azad Maidan.


Apart from Abbas, three more acquitted youth were beaten black and blue by the RAF and the Arthur Road Jail authorities before being set free nearly 14 days later.  All the 23 accused, who were acquitted owing to lack of evidence, were to be sent for an immediate medical check up after Advocate Khalid Azmi filed an application on 25 August on behalf of their family members stating that they d were beaten up in Arthur Road Jail. Abbas said he was verbally abused and threatened by the Arthur Road Jail authorities. 'I was beaten up in such a manner that they left no visible injuries on my body. They mostly assaulted us with punches and kicks,' Abbas added.

Another acquitted youth, Anees Dawaray (23), a garage mechanic, also said the police at Arthur Road jail beat him up. Aslam Ali Shaikh (19), a FY B.com student at MD College in Dadar, who was also wrongly picked up by the police on the eve of the riots, has a harrowing account to narrate. 'Immediately after releasing me from Taloja jail on 28 August, I had to be rushed to a private nursing home for dressing of wounds. I can barely walk. They beat me on my legs with a stick at Arthur Jail Road,' said a visibly shaken Shaikh.

 

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
June 10,2020

US dictionary Merriam-Webster will update the meaning of the word "racism" after being contacted by a Missouri black woman, who claimed the current definition fell short of including the systematic oppression of people of colour, according to media reports.

"A revision to the entry for racism is now being drafted to be added to the dictionary soon, and we are also planning to revise the entries of other words that are related to racism or have racial connotations," according to a statement of the 189-year-old dictionary shared by Kennedy Mitchum, a recent graduate of Drake University in Iowa, on her Facebook.

Mitchum, 22, emailed the dictionary last month, following the death of African American George Floyd in the custody of four Minneapolis police officers, Xinhua news agency reported.

"I kept having to tell them that definition is not representative of what is actually happening in the world," Mitchum told CNN. "The way that racism occurs in real life is not just prejudice, it's the systemic racism that is happening for a lot of black Americans."

Merriam-Webster's first definition of racism is "a belief that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race."

"It's not just disliking someone because of their race," Mitchum wrote in a Facebook post on Friday. "This current fight we are in is evidence of that, lives are at stake because of the systems of oppression that go hand-in-hand with racism."

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
February 29,2020

Ahmedabad, Feb 29: The presence of two feral pigeons onboard a GoAir flight at the airport in Ahmedabad in Gujarat created a flutter among the amused passengers, even though the avian surprise did not lead to any untoward incident or delay in the flight.

The incident took place on Friday when the passengers were boarding the Ahmedabad-Jaipur flight.

"Two pigeons had found their way inside the flight G8 702 while the passengers were boarding," an airline statement said on Saturday.

"The crew immediately shooed away the birds. The flight took off at its scheduled time at 5 p.m.," it added.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.
Agencies
January 26,2020

New Delhi, Jan 26: Google on Sunday marked India's 71st Republic Day by dedicating a doodle illustrating the country's rich cultural heritage that permeates and unites the diverse nation.

From its world-famous landmarks like the Taj Mahal and India Gate, to the wide array of fauna such as its national bird (the Indian peafowl), to classical arts, textiles, and dances, the doodle, designed by Singapore-based artist Meroo Seth, brings together the rich cultural heritage of the country.

Republic Day marks the completion of India's transition towards becoming an independent republic after its constitution came into effect. The governing document had taken nearly three years of careful deliberation to finalise, and its eventual enactment was joyfully celebrated across the country.

While the Constitution was adopted by the Indian Constituent Assembly on 26 November 1949, it came into effect on January 26 -- a day when Declaration of Indian Independence (Purna Swaraj) was proclaimed by the Indian National Congress back in 1929, as opposed to the Dominion status offered by the British Regime.

Festivities embody the essence of diversity found in one of the world's most populous nations, celebrated over a three-day period with cultural events displaying national pride.

Last year's doodle on Republic Day, designed by artist Reshidev RK, had featured Rashtrapati Bhavan in the background along with a display of the country's iconic monuments and heritage.

Comments

Add new comment

  • Coastaldigest.com reserves the right to delete or block any comments.
  • Coastaldigset.com is not responsible for its readers’ comments.
  • Comments that are abusive, incendiary or irrelevant are strictly prohibited.
  • Please use a genuine email ID and provide your name to avoid reject.