The police on Friday arrested Vanita Ghag, a Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) corporator from the Malad are, and six other party workers for assaulting a journalist in the presence of the police in Mumbai in the early hours of Thursday morning, the Times of India has reported.
A mob of around 100 MNS supporters, who were shouting slogans in favour of party chief Raj Thackeray at the premises of the Kurar police station on Wednesday, had badly beaten up local journalist Dinanath Tiwari. Tiwari suffered fractures to a leg and internal body injuries. He was admitted to Bhagwati Hospital, Borivli, for medical treatment.
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Tiwari said, "I was attacked in the presence of the police and sustained serious injuries. Despite that, the police have booked Ghag and the MNS workers for rioting and not for attempted murder.'' The police told TOI that Tiwari did not sustain injuries that were serious enough to endanger his life. Incidentally, the police have also registered a case against Tiwari for rioting.
On Wednesday night, a mob of around 20 people targeted two shops owned by north Indians in Kurar village. They ransacked one shop, kicked two young women belonging to the shopkeeper's family and threw his seven-year-old son to the floor. The boy, Nihal, sustained leg injuries. The shopkeeper's family then retaliated in self-defence by throwing cold-drink bottles and one of the attackers sustained head injuries.
When the two shopkeepers' families approached the police to file a complaint, a large mob of MNS supporters gathered at the police station and insisted on registering a cross-complaint.
The MNS supporters beat up people, including Tiwari, who came to the police station to support the north Indian families. The police filed rioting cases against both sides and arrested six family members, three from each of the shopkeepers' families, for rioting. They were all released on bail on Thursday.
The police also arrested the seven MNS supporters for attacking the journalist and five others for ranscking the shop. However, the the shopkeeper's family said the five held for attacking the shop are not the real people involved in the incident. All the arrested were produced in a magistrate's court and released on bail on Friday.
Zonal DCP, Ajit Patil, said, "We have registered three offences related to the Wednesday incident and arrested upto 18 people in the case. Tiwari was present when the fight took place between the locals and a shopkeeper and he is also an accused in the rioting case.''
