Residents say cops roughed them up during demolition drive

Residents of 25 shanties near Mhatre grounds in Juhu have alleged that the police used unnecessary force and also beat up a woman during a recently conducted demolition drive.

While a woman resident alleged police officers pushed her to the ground and hit her with a lathi when she protested against the demolition, the police claims the woman and her family attacked them instead.

The incident occurred at around 11.30 am on Tuesday when BMC officials alongwith personnel from Juhu police station went to shanties located near Mhatre grounds, behind Ritumbhara college.

“They came to the area without giving us any prior intimation and started demolishing our homes. When we protested, they randomly started rounding up people, including my brother, so I got worried and started panicking and ran towards them to stop them,” said Sunita Khatik (33).

“One of the officers pushed me the ground and I hurt my head. He then hit me with a lathi on my back and legs,” she alleged. Family members added that they approached the Juhu police to register an FIR but were sent back.

When contacted, Juhu police officials refuted the allegations and said the family had charged at them during the demolition.

“We accompanied BMC officials since the residents has refused to evacuate the premises despite previous notices sent to them. We were met with protests by the residents and a man identified as Sanjay Pardeshi charged at us so we detained him and later arrested him,” said a senior officer of Juhu police station.

He added that the woman in question had tried to hurl stones at an officer and in a bid to protect himself the officer moved, causing her to fall. “The accused is a history sheeter and has five to six previous cases registered against him. Most of them are regarding obstructing a public officer from conducting his duty and also he is a local hooligan of the area. Hence we charged him under IPC and have remanded him to police custody for three days,” he said.