Demolition overdrive

MUMBAI, December 29: Over 40 hutment dwellers of Gautam Nagar, Kandivli east were injured, some seriously, this afternoon when the police ...

MUMBAI, December 29: Over 40 hutment dwellers of Gautam Nagar, Kandivli east were injured, some seriously, this afternoon when the police lathi-charged a group of demonstrators protesting the ongoing demolition drive in the area. Gautam Nagar falls within the restricted forest zone of the Sanjay Gandhi National Park.

The Samata Nagar police also arrested and charge-sheeted 28 persons. Five rounds of teargas shells were used to disperse the thousand-strong crowd.

The injured were rushed to Bhagwati Hospital, Borivli west, from where they were later discharged. Three of the seriously injured persons have been kept under observation at the hospital. The cops claim they were forced to wield their batons on the crowd as some members from the group indulged in stone throwing to stop bulldozers from flattening their huts. Three constables and three employees of the forest department were also injured.

But slum residents have a different version. 8220;The women and children were peacefully sitting in front of the bulldozers at around 11 am. We wanted to hand over a memorandum to the conservator of forests to spare our homes, as most children had still not returned from school. But the cops rudely asked us to get up and move back. Before we could do anything, they beat us up, not even sparing the children,8221; said 45-year-old Jayshree Wadkar, who received minor head injuries. Four-year-old Supriya Atmaram Ajwirkar, her head partly shaven to treat an abrasion caused by the lathi-charge, holds testimony to this. 8220;There was simply no stone-throwing as has been alleged,8221; said Supriya8217;s mother Anita, who was nursing her own injuries.

Another innocent casualty was eight-year-old Vikram P Singh, who received baton blows on his back.

Those who visited the injured in hospital included former deputy municipal commissioner G R Khairnar and regional Congress President from North Mumbai, Ram Pandagale. A dazed Vatsala P Sawant, admitted to the women8217;s ward, told Khairnar that she was unable to even recount how she was hit during the lathi-charge. 8220;I have already spoken to the injured. I am saddened by this inhuman police brutality,8221; commented Khairnar. Pandagale, who has been arrested two times earlier for trying to stop the demolition drive, informed: 8220;These demolitions have been going on at Gautam Nagar, Damu Nagar, Appapada, Bhimnagar and several other places since October this year.

Earlier the police had arrested 42 persons; This time round, however, the police violence was also visible.8221;