(Reproduced
from the The Times of India December 07, 2007
frontpage )
Doc, MBA son
locked up on ‘false’ charges
Mateen Hafeez | TNN
Mumbai: An MBA and his 58-year-old
mother, a doctor, spent a night in the police lock-up
with hardened criminals after they were arrested by
the police on charges of slapping a woman constable,
which they deny.
The Malad police had arrested Dr Bharati Shah and her
son, Dejul (30), an MBA from IIM (Lucknow), on
Saturday. It all began on Saturday morning over a
water connection dispute in their building,
Tejchhaya, at Malad. “One of our tenants was
about to lay a water line when my father, being the
landlord of the building, intervened. He asked for
the court’s order for the water connection since
we are involved in a legal dispute with them. The
tenant had, in a preplanned manner, come along with
the BMC’s water department employees, contractor
and the police,’’ said Dejul.
He said that the police took away his father, an
alumnus of the Birla Insititute of Technology and
Science, on the pretext of recording his statement.
Dejul said that the police neither recorded the
statement of his father nor allowed him to leave the
police station. Later, according to him,more police
personnel, including two women constables, arrived at
the building and escorted his mother downstairs.
MBA
recalls trauma in lock-up
Mumbai: The Malad police not only arrested Dr Bharati
Shah and her son Dejul without any preliminary probe
but also denied them access to their lawyer at the
time of arrest. Moreover, the men in khaki did not
bother to inform the victims what their crime was.
The victims later learnt that they were booked for
assaulting a woman constable, which they said was
completely false. The police blatantly ignored a SC
ruling that bars arrest of a woman between sunset and
sunrise.
FRAMED?
Dr.Bharati Shah with her son Dejul outside
their Malad home
Trader
Framed ... Yes in
Mumbai again. Read about it.
“Despite repeated attempts to learn what our
crime was, no policemen answered us. At 7 pm, the
policemen told me that my mother and I were under
arrest and lodged us in separate cells in the
police lock-up,’’ a depressed Dejul
added.
The policemen handcuffed Dejul after an hour and
took him to the Borivli central lock-up. “I
still cannot forget the trauma. I was dragged
into a cell with no light, no fan, no ventilation
and was asked to sit along with 10 to 15 other
prisoners in the stinking lock-up. I was scared
since I have never been to any police station in
my life and did not know what to do. The other
inmates were talking about sexually exploiting
someone...I was terrified,’’ he said.
It was only at 2.30 am on Sunday when
Dejul’s lawyer, advocate Yogesh Gandhi,
brought the bail papers to the police station
that they were released. Gandhi informed them
that they were booked under sections 332
(voluntarily causing hurt to deter a public
servant from performing his duty), 353 (assault
or criminal force against a public servant) and
34 (common participation in an act of crime) of
the IPC. “The policemen alleged that my
mother had slapped a woman constable and even
brought a dummy woman constable before us. How
can my mother slap a constable? They are lying
since we suspect they are hand-in-glove with the
tenant,’’ added Dejul. He named the
tenant, Ranjan Shah, and her relatives.
Maruti Rathor, senior inspector with the Malad
police, said, “Dr Bharati had intentionally
slapped our lady constable and therefore we
arrested her and her son.’’
Dejul and his wife Mona on Wednesday approached
the joint commissioner of police (crime) Rakesh
Maria and narrated their terrible encounter with
the police. Maria immediately asked DCP Makrand
Ranade to conduct an inquiry into the matter and
submit a report by next Tuesday. “We are
trying to improve the police’s image but a
few police personnel mar our attempts. I am
personally looking into the matter and justice
will be done,’’ said Maria.
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