After an award-winning filmmaker was allegedly assaulted by a builder's goons while filming the aftermath of demolitions in Sion Koliwada last Saturday, another journalist Prathamesh Shivkar from the newspaper Janta ka Aina, was allegedly manhandled by a constable from the Sion police station on Wednesday.
Expecting no support from the local police, the filmmaker, last week lodged a complaint about her assault with joint commissioner of police (law and order). But before any action could be taken, on Wednesday afternoon, a constable from Sion police station intimidated Shivkar while he was filming some homes that were being demolished by the civic authorities.
Speaking to DNA, Shivkar said,"I was just doing my job and recording the demolitions on my camera when constable Sonawane approached me and asked for my credentials. He asked me who had given me the permission to record the demolitions as he looked at my press card. My card was attached to my the belt around my waist and Sonawane pulled it and told me to come to the police station."
Shivkar said that he explained to the cop that the press did not require permission to shoot.
"In the meantime, a senior policeman intervened and said I could go ahead and shoot. But PI More started arguing and yelled at me, saying I needed permission."
Shivkar, through his friends, dispatched a written complaint about the behaviour of the policemen to Sion police station the same afternoon but the police refused to accept it, he said. Senior police inspector Vinod Gandankush, who has just taken charge of the police station, told DNA,"We will take the complaint. It is our job. Let me look into the matter and attend to it." The complaint was finally accepted after a phone call to the police station from DNA.
Meanwhile, the young filmmaker who was assaulted last week, in her complaint, had stated,"The goons twisted my hand and tried to snatch my camera and break it. A lady identified as Kalpana, leapt on to me and attacked me from the back. The local cops standing there did nothing."
Her complaint only stated,"On one occasion, they stored their lathis in the builder's office before they arrested some peacefully protesting women."
She added,"I'm going to file an FIR in the next one or two days."