Woman, 1-yr-old spend ‘cold and hungry night in lock-up’

Anita Badoni, one of the 15 arrested for rioting in Vikhroli, said her one-year-old son had to spend the night at the Bhandup lock-up with her, Pratik Salunke reports.

Anita Badoni, one of the 15 arrested for rioting in Vikhroli, said her one-year-old son had to spend the night at the Bhandup lock-up with her.

HT Image

Anita Badoni’s shanty was razed on Tuesday.

Inspector KH Pawar of Parksite police station said they had kept the child near his mother so that she could feed him.

Experts said Badoni should not have been arrested because she was breastfeeding her child.

“The woman should have not been arrested at all. There’s a SC judgment that differentiates between the power to arrest and the need to arrest. The need to arrest is only when the crime is heinous or interrogation is needed to recover incriminating material. This is violation of the SC directive and there should be a probe,” said YP Singh, activist-turned-lawyer.

Badoni said she was not part of any rioting. “The policemen and BMC officials broke my door when I requested them to come when my husband was home. They threw out my belongings and my home was razed soon after,” said Badoni. “We were not given any food in the lock-up. I was only given one mattress. My son was freezing all night. I couldn’t breastfeed him because I had not eaten anything.”

Mahesh Ghurye, deputy commissioner of police, zone VII, said: “The accused were arrested and produced in court as per the law.”