False report by journalist played a role in Bandra chaos: Cop

Rahul Kulkarni, a journalist from a Marathi news channel, who was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly spreading rumours that led to a large gathering of migrants

Rahul Kulkarni, a journalist from a Marathi news channel, who was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly spreading rumours that led to a large gathering of migrants outside Bandra railway station on Tuesday evening, was released on bail of ₹15,000 by a magistrate’s court in Bandra on Thursday. A senior Indian Police Service (IPS) officer claimed that the arrest was not carried out under government pressure.

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“Their news on a train service may not be involved directly with spreading the rumour, but it certainly contributed to the environment,” the officer said. Several fake news reports and rumours were happening spread on social media about the resumption of railway services. The arrested journalist’s news was among those which added to the rumours, the officer said but denied the incident to be a planned conspiracy.

“Migrants and labourers were frustrated, hungry, and wanted to go home at any cost. They were hoping that on the last day of the first lockdown (April 14), the government would announce some relaxation of rules to help stranded labourers,” said the officer.

Kulkarni’s lawyer Subodh Desai informed the court, “Kulkarni’s arrest is illegal. Our story was based on a Railways document and it was not a false report. It would be wrong to say that because of our story, people gathered there.”

Explaining the incident, the officer added that the crowd thought that the government would arrange some transportation to send them back home, so to ensure the same, they gathered in large numbers.

Police initially tried to resolve the migrant workers’ issues with talks and offered them food. However, some of the frustrated migrants were adamant and demanded passage back to their home towns. As the crowd started protesting aggressively, police had to resort to a mild lathi-charge, said the officer.

“We realised that the migrants were frustrated over not getting food or government aide, and they had no money as their employers (small scale contractors, construction labour contractors) too are facing financial problems due to the lockdown. We conveyed this to the government and are now ensuring that all stranded labourers and migrants get sufficient food,” said the IPS officer.