52-year old man, who was beaten up by the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena workers in full media glare in Mumbai on Monday, has been booked under the stringent POCSO Act by the Thane Police. The video of MNS workers beating up the 52-year old truck driver had gone viral.
“An alert citizen from Thane brought this video clip to us, showing this 52-year old man in an obscene act in front of a five-and-a-half-year-old girl. We found the family of the girl, brought it to the police station, and showed it the video clip. After that, the family registered a complaint against the man. We have booked him under Sections 354 (A)(1)(3), 376 (I) (J) of IPC and Sections 4, 8, 12 of POCSO,” a Thane police official said.
The Thane Police acted after the MNS workers handed over Jagdish Ramlakhan Roy, an inhabitant of Bihar, to them along with a video clip. The video clip showed Roy prowling around small children in a garden. He was seen flashing his private parts at a girl child, and later forcibly pulling her near him.
While the video of the man caught in the act has led to massive outrage in the State, the politics of Marathi vs North Indians has again picked up pace. The video of MNS workers beating up the truck driver also went viral. While the MNS threatened to oust migrants from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar, Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam threatened to bring Mumbai to a standstill if the North Indian migrants left the city.
“Why don’t you ask this question in Gujarat where north Indian migrants are being attacked too? In the last six months, 45 north Indians have been booked for criminal acts. What you saw on camera was the outrage of people. Do you justify what the truck driver did to that little girl? Our children should be safe,” MNS leader Sandeep Deshpande said.
Another MNS leader Avinash Jadhav accused Nirupam of supporting criminals. “It is due to the statements of leaders like Sanjay Nirupam that these people feel emboldened to indulge in such acts,” he said.
Nirupam said that the North Indian migrants came to Mumbai to earn their livelihoods. “If they leave, the entire city will come to a standstill,” he said.
