Malad locals run riot over harassment of women

The locals of an area in Malad East went on a rampage and broke down a betel nut shop on Sunday night following which the Dindoshi police had to resort to baton charging. The outburst was over the harassment of women in the area, said the police.

The locals of an area in Malad East went on a rampage and broke down a betel nut shop on Sunday night following which the Dindoshi police had to resort to baton charging. The outburst was over the harassment of women in the area, said the police.

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The locals said the women in the Haji Road area were harassed on a daily basis by men who stood near the betel nut shop. On Sunday, a few girls were on the way to their tuition class when they were harassed by men standing outside the shop. The locals confronted the men and manhandled them. The irked locals ran amok and broke down the shop, said the police.

The beat marshals on patrol duty alerted the Dindoshi police, who said the crowd was uncontrollable and had to be baton charged to bring the situation under control. “Locals should have approached the local police in case of a problem,” said ACP Sunil Deshmukh. Locals said they had approached the police in the past in vain. “We have booked 150 persons on charges of rioting under the IPC,” said Vinayak Kakade, senior inspector.