Mumbai: Even though the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) activists manhandled hawkers at Thane railway station, the Thane Nagar police has only registered a case under the Maharashtra Police Act, for not taking prior police permission for carrying out a protest at a public place. Explaining why no case had been registered under the IPC, police officials said that they had not received any complaint from hawkers about assault. MNS activists drove away more than two dozen illegal hawkers from a railway bridge in Thane on Saturday.
More than 20 MNS activists came to Thane railway station and started shouting at hawkers to collect their stuff immediately and leave the place. When some hawkers took some time in gathering their wares, MNS activists beat them up. They were led by Avinash Jadhav, president of the MNS Thane city unit When contacted, police said they have not received any complaints about the incident yet.
Mr Jadhav said, “The government railway police, city police and corporation need to do this. We have to do it because these people are not doing their work. It is so needed to clear this area because during peak hour it is not possible is for commuters to walk through such congested areas due to the hawkers and their stalls. After Elphinstone, hawkers need to understand this problem. And if they won’t understand, we are there to teach the lesson.”
Among the hawkers who suffered on Saturday, was Satish Gupta, who has a fruit stall was vandalised by the MNS protesters. “Already we live a hand to mouth existence. Nobody is giving us any job for survival. Whatever we can manage is also being snatched away. There are more than 10 such hawkers suffered losses due to MNS protest and some also sustained minor injuries but didn’t complain to cops,” said Gupta. Another hawker, Chotu Kumar said, “I have a mobile equipment stall. If I stand here for 14 hours daily, I can make business up to '500. I can’t rent a shop because rents are very high,” he said.
