The Mumbai Police has filed an FIR under section 353,188 and 269 of the Indian Penal Code against one person for attacking the police in Kurla. On the 29th of April, a police team was attacked while the team was on Coronavirus related enforcement duty in Kurla Pipeline area. Despite the FIR being filed, no arrests have been made yet by the Mumbai Police in the matter.
Maharashtra: Mumbai Police have registered FIR u/s 353,188&269 IPC against one person for allegedly assaulting a police team while the team was on COVID19 related enforcement duty in Kurla Pipeline area on 29th April. Police are yet to arrest the accused.
— ANI (@ANI) May 2, 2020
Earlier, a video of the mob attack on the police had gone viral on social media. In the video, a mob primarily belonging to the Muslim community can be seen heckling and abusing the police as they were in the Kurla pipeline area for Coronavirus related enforcement duty.
महाराष्ट्र में 10,000 जिसमे 7000 से ज्यादा संक्रमित लोग अकेले मुम्बई में हैं, 450 + से ज्यादा लोगों की मौत हो गई है।
— Gaurav Bhatia गौरव भाटिया 🇮🇳 (@gauravbh) May 1, 2020
फिर भी पुलिस को मारा जा रहा है
कोई भी देश के कानून से ऊपर नहीं है।
पुलिस का सम्मान होना चाहिए, सबके खिलाफ सख्त कार्यवाही होनी चाहिए @OfficeofUT ji#Kurla pic.twitter.com/8BgnsXbLtR
In the video, it is evident that an argument has broken out between the police team and the residents of the locality, predominantly Muslims, and that led to people assaulting and abusing the police team.
At about the 15-16 second mark in the video, a man can be seen assaulting the police team. Towards the end of the video as well, one can see a resident hurling abuses at the police team from his apartment.
It is pertinent to note that several such cases have erupted across the country, where Muslim mobs were booked for assaulting and abusing police teams for enforcing lockdown amidst the Coronavirus pandemic.
A team of police personnel and district officials were attacked by locals in Meerut’s Jali Kothi when they reached there to seal a part of the area following a confirmation about presence of coronavirus patients in a mosque in the area. The agitated crowd was subsequently pacified and the entire area was cordoned off. Subsequently, 4 people including the Imam was arrested in the case.
Earlier, two policemen on lockdown enforcement duty were also injured after a mob attacked them with knives and in Bhopal’s old city area on Monday night. The police team was asking the residents to stay indoors when they were attacked by a group led by Shahid Qureshi alias Kabootar. A resident of Islampura, he jumped from a building to escape arrest but was injured in the process.
At a time when the healthcare workers, policemen are risking their lives to limit the spread of the Chinese epidemic, there have been concerted attacks against them by some anti-social elements refusing to obey lockdown and follow protocols to check the disease spread.
We had reported a series of incidents where violent mobs had unleashed violence against frontline workers at a time when they are risking their lives to limit the spread of the Chinese epidemic.
