Kurla resident arrested for spitting on northeast woman in Kalina

A 23-year-old man was arrested on Friday for spitting on a woman from Manipur, in Kalina area on April 6. The accused, Mohammed Amir Mohammed Elias, is a Kurla resident.

A 23-year-old man was arrested on Friday for spitting on a woman from Manipur, in Kalina area on April 6. The accused, Mohammed Amir Mohammed Elias, is a Kurla resident. The incident came to light when an activist from Delhi posted about it on social media.

HT Image

According to the victim Shonyo Kabai’s complaint, on April 6 she was on her way to buy groceries with her sister when Elias approached them on a bike, took off her mask and spat on her near Kalina signal. “I don’t know if this incident has to do with coronavirus, but our community faces discrimination. There is always name-calling and people mock us,” she said.

While the accused told police that he did not spit on the woman deliberately, Kabai said, “It was not by accident, he purposefully spat on me. I was standing on the side of the road and if he wanted to spit normally why did he come close to me.”

After Linda Newmai, a social activist from Delhi tweeted about the incident, the office of Mumbai Police commissioner directed the local police station to register a first information report (FIR) against Elias. A case was then registered under the Epidemic Diseases Act.

Kailas Avhad, senior inspector of Vakola police station, said, “We had formed different teams and one of them was checking for CCTV footages in the area. On Thursday night we identified the accused and called him for an inquiry. We have now arrested him.”