Mumbai police team enforcing lockdown attacked by mob, 4 detained

A policeman from Mumbai’s Shivaji Nagar police station sustained injuries in his right hand on Sunday evening while trying to disperse a mob, who had gathered on a road, defying the nationwide ongoing lockdown restrictions.

Initially, the lockdown was enforced for 21 days and then further extended for another 19 days till May 3, to contain the spread of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) outbreak.

Four persons were detained in the incident, which occurred on a road at densely populated slum Shivaji Nagar in Govandi at around 6:50 pm on Sunday. The patrolling police personnel reached an intersection in Shivaji Nagar after the police control room informed them of a mob was roaming on the road, the police said.

“A 30-odd-member strong crowd, including two women, had gathered at the intersection flouting lockdown restrictions. They pelted stones at the police personnel and also shouted slogans against them,” said Sudarshan Paithankar, senior inspector, Shivaji Nagar police station.

“A man from the crowd attacked a police inspector with an iron rod. Though he managed to deflect the attack aimed at his head, he sustained injuries in his right hand. The mob also damaged the glass panes of a police vehicle,” he added.

Shivaji Nagar falls under the jurisdiction of the M-East ward of Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), which is at a greater risk of Covid-19 transmission because it has one of the worst health indices in the city, according to the BMC authorities.

The ward, which includes the slum pockets of Deonar, Govandi, Bainganwadi, Shivaji Nagar, and Cheetah Camp and the Deonar dumping ground, is spread across an area of 32.50 square kilometres.