Mumbai Police face flak on Twitter over crowded liquor shops

On Monday, the Mumbai Police on its Twitter handle received several complaints from alert citizens across Mumbai complaining against social distancing norms being

On Monday, the Mumbai Police on its Twitter handle received several complaints from alert citizens across Mumbai complaining against social distancing norms being flouted at wine shops in the city defeating the purpose of a lockdown in the red zone.

HT Image

These complaints were received along with videos showing several people overcrowding wine shops in areas like Tilak Nagar area near Chembur, Sion Koliwada, IC colony in Borivli (W), GTB Nagar, Yogi Nagar in Borivli (W), Chincholi Bunder in Malad (W), Chembur camp area and Matunga.

A video went viral on social media where over 100 people gathered outside a wine shop in Matunga (east) on Monday evening forcing police to shut the shop and disperse the people threatening them with lathi-charge. Incidentally, Vijay Ghatge senior inspector of Matunga police station who was seen dispersing the crowd told HT that the wine shop was opened only around 4.30 pm and within half an hour it got overcrowded.

In another instance, Nitin Verma tweeted a video commenting, “Wine shop Next to the building which is corona infected. Location: Gtb Nagar, Sion East Mumbai 400 022Video courtesy: forward received@CMOMaharashtra @OfficeofUT @MumbaiPolice”

Sagar Patel tweeted, “@CMOMaharashtra @MumbaiPolice here people in Yogi Nagar, Borivali west thinks that lockdown has been lifted. People are standing in que outside wine shop, gathering up for chit chat. Tried calling MHB police station but no response from thir end. Please help with a patrolling van!”

Sharavan Pandey tweeted a video from Chincholi bunder in Malad west where 20 to 30 people stood in queue outside wine shop

When questioned about this, Pranaya Ashok, DCP (ops) and Mumbai Police spokesperson said, “The local police stations have been asked to take stock of the situation and if rules are flouted, they will have to register FIR against violators.”

Police officials from the north region (Goregaon to Dahisar) said that they have kept bandobast outside wine shops to ensure social distancing is maintained adding no FIRs have been registered against people for gathering.

Man booked for illegally transporting labourers

A 29-year-old Kurla resident is booked by Sakinaka police for illegally transporting eight migrant workers to Uttar Pradesh. The accused Irshad Ali Chaudhary is the driver of tempo and promised migrants that he will drop them to their natives. According to the police on May 2 around 2am while checking the vehicle at Nakabandi at Zarimari, Sakinaka area police stopped a tempo and found 8 people stuffed in the vehicle. During questioning, they revealed that they are coming from Kurla and Chaudhary promised them that he will drop then to UP. However, police booked a driver and allowed migrants to go back to their place at Kurla where they were staying.

1,000 people mostly labourers sent back to Rajasthan

About a 1,000 people mostly labourers were sent back to Rajasthan by bus informed Ashok. He said that about 15,000 applications have been received so far and a total of 1.5 lakh applications are expected within a few weeks’ time.

FIRs further dip to just 38 cases, till date 10, 890 booked

As cases of Covid 19, containment zones and those quarantined is increasing the police seem to have gone slow on lockdown violators. The FIRs for violations came down to just 38 cases with a majority of 20 cases from the north region and 9 from the west region. A maximum of 20 was for gathering in one place and 15 for not wearing masks. About 51 were booked and 20 were arrested. Since lockdown, a total of 5757 FIRs were taken against 10,890 people and 6720 booked for violations.

Prohibitory order issued on Monday

The Mumbai Police on Monday issued a prohibitory order under CrPC section 144 prohibiting the movement of one or more person in public place between 8 pm to 7 am for all non-essential activities except a medical emergency. Between 7 am to 8pm the same movement will be regulated by the police as per government orders. The order will remain effective till May 17 and ones violating it will be booked under section 188 of IPC.

422 police personnel positive in state

A total of 422 police personnel have been infected with Covid 19 of which 34 recovered while 385 are being treated. In this 422 cases, a majority of 379 are constables (including three who passed away due to the disease) while 43 are officers.

On Monday evening the Mumbai Police crossed the 200 marks with a total of 211 police personnel testing positive for Covid 19. The city police contributed 50% of the cases in Maharashtra Police department, which recorded 422 cases till Monday.

(Inputs from Suraj Ojha, Faisal Tandel and Pratik Salunke)