Mumbai: A group of slum dwellers near Bandra Reclamation allegedly assaulted freelance photographers on Thursday, when they were taking pictures of the ‘Love Mumbai’ installation, on Valentine’s Day.
The injured photographers were identified as Prashant Waydande and Satish Bate. The assai-lants attacked Waydande with a paver brick while Bate was assaulted with a belt. Both photographers have been discharged from a civic-run hospital after treatment.
Talking to The Asian Age, zonal deputy commissioner of police, Paramjit Singh Dahiya, said, “We have taken cognisance of the incident and the persons who have assaulted the photographers. Our search is in progress.”
Speaking about the incident Waydande said, “We were taking pictures with the ‘Love Mumbai’ installation as a backdrop at Bandra Reclamation. Since it was bright, we were waiting for a perfect click.” He added, “Few people from the slums nearby entered the site and started abusing us verbally. When we tried to reason with them, they started assaulting us with the belts and paver blocks that were lying nearby.”
Condemning the attack, journalist Jatin Desai said, “I revile people who take the law into their own hands. The photographers were doing their job and someone abusing them is utterly unacceptable.”
