Mumbai Underground

FALLS ALARM

In the course of vociferous and almost theatrical arguments in a case of environmental importance in the Bombay High Court recently,the resounding,high-pitched voice of a senior lawyer was suddenly interrupted by the thud of a person falling on the wooden stairs in the court room. An abrupt silence followed,with the entire room looking at the man on the ground. The silence was broken when a judge assured the lawyer,“That wasn’t because of your arguments.”

FIGHTING DOOM

An officer who has been given the additional charge of a controversy-ridden police station,where 35 police officers were recently suspended,has turned to superstition to guard his job. He has consulted a spiritual guru who is believed to have advised him to go to the newly assigned police station only after 4 pm as any officer posted there is destined to lose his job. Following his guru’s instructions,the officer first goes to the police station that he was originally assigned to and visits the “ill-fated” police station only after 4 pm.

QUOTING TROUBLE

While explaining the role of engineering student Shamil Nachan in an attempt to murder case,the prosecution read out the statement of a witness who allegedly said Shamil had furthered the motive of his father Saquib,the main accused in the case. The witness allegedly quoted Shamil saying “Abba gusse mein hai (father is angry)….” Justice A M Thipsay asked whether what is within quotes is said by the witness or by Shamil. Prosecutor A S Gadkari told the court that it was Shamil quoting his father. “How can abba say abba gusse mein hai?” the court quipped and said the police must carefully place punctuation marks while recording witness statements. Gadkari,however,said it was an inadvertent mistake.

PARTYING SHOT

At the BMC standing committee meeting last week,BJP corporator Manoj Kotak took a bold leap out of the scheduled discussions to speculate the political leanings of additional municipal commissioner Manisha Mhaiskar. “I think after her retirement,the additional municipal commissioner will join the UPA government,” said Kotak to the rest of the members. Caught unaware,Mhaiskar defensively said,“How can you talk like that? This is a personal matter. It is not appropriate for people to bring up such matters publicly.” Shiv Sena corporator Krishna Vishwasrao retorted,“Kotak,you meet me in person; I’ll tell you which party she is going to join.”