It’s 7.30 am Sunday in Naupada, Thane. Three policemen have waited more than 30 minutes at one end of the Tekdi Bungalow lane. But there’s no sign of the four young men they are supposed to monitor as they clean the lane. Suddenly, Sub Inspector P Pardeshi and the two constables spot some men sweeping the lane. The policemen walk up to the group, only to realise these are not the men they have been waiting for — these sweepers are from the civic body. Pardeshi is beginning to lose patience. After all, he has to ensure that the four young men sweep the lane from 7 am to 11 am, in line with a Bombay High Court order. It’s the punishment handed to the four after they, accompanied by the woman on whose molestation complaint an FIR was lodged against them, told the judge they had come to a “settlement”. The High Court asked them what they would do in terms of community service and they suggested cleaning the area where they live in Naupada. The High Court then directed: “On Sunday, you will clean the area from 7 am to 11 am and between 4 pm and 8 pm for a period of six months.” Pardeshi starts making phone calls. Finally, one of the four answers. He claims they have been at work at the other end of the lane. Pardeshi directs them to come to their end. “I think they have just woken up. Look how they are rubbing their eyes,” he tells the constables as Amit Adkale, Milind More, Suhas Thakur and Aniket Jadhav turn up with brooms and dustpans. Constable Datta Shinde points to their legs. “So clean after sweeping so long? You think we are fools,” he admonishes them. The four remain silent. The group — the three policemen, the four young men, two friends and a stray dog called Monty — then go to a spot outside a garden where they usually play cricket. This is where the policemen order the four to start sweeping. “Char pana ka jama kartaat. Kachara uchla (don’t just sweep leaves, pick up the dirt),” one of the constables shouts. Pardeshi holds up his camera, pretending to record the four. “This is to ensure they work properly.” Passers-by stop and stare. “Kai salu aahey (what is going on),” asks one. Constable Khare tells him in great detail why they are here, and why the four men are cleaning the lane. The passer-by smiles, says it’s the “best idea” and leaves. At 8.15 am, shops start opening. Last Sunday, when the four showed up the first time, it was cause for great amusement. Not anymore. “The four were very shy then. Now they seem to have got used to it,” says one who knows the young men. Adkale, one of the young men at work, speaks for all: “We look at it as social work. What is there to be embarrassed about sweeping? We will do this even after six months.” He turns to his brother, who has also turned up, to take a photograph. A relative of one of the other three men says his parents have not spoken to him ever since the “trumped up” charges were brought against them. “Imagine, the entire neighbourhood is watching their son sweep the area. What an embarrassment. His marriage was fixed. The girl’s family is not too happy with this development. We don’t know what will happen,” says the relative who refuses to identify himself. One of their friends has another complaint. “At 4 pm every Sunday, we used to meet and play cricket at the very garden they are sweeping. Now there will be no cricket for six months.” The friend says the case of the four young men would not have been highlighted by the media had its hearing not been on the same day as that of the the murder of rationalist Govind Pansare. “This case was right behind the Pansare case hearing in the Bombay High Court. The media came for that case but printed this, that’s why there’s so much publicity,” he claims. The animated conversation between the friends, shopkeepers and the policemen is interrupted when one of the brooms snaps. It is hurriedly bound together. At 11 am, the four take a break. Work will resume at 4 pm when the policemen and Monty return.
