Teen assaulted and robbed, kin accuses government railway police of burking
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MUMBAI:
The family of a 17-year-old student, who was allegedly robbed by
"rowdies" and pushed off a train on to the platform at Bandra station a
few weeks ago, has accused the government railway police (GRP) of
burking.
Aditya Pawar had approached the Bandra GRP outpost minutes after the incident, but was sent away with a "certificate of loss". Till date, the GRP have not registered a first information report in the matter.
Pawar, who lives in Dadar, travels to Bandra by train to reach his institute, where he is pursuing an animation course.
He said that on January 22, around 10.45am, as the train crossed Mahim station, he stood near the door of a general compartment. "A young man was blocking the entrance. I asked him to move as I had to get off at the next station. He was rude to me and suddenly yanked off my earphones and my cellphone. By then, the train pulled into Bandra station and I was forced to get off as the crowd behind me wanted to get off too. When I realized that my phone was missing, I got back in," Pawar said.
The collegian grabbed the man who had his phone by the collar. "I asked him to return my handset but he feigned ignorance. I frisked him but could not find my handset, which was worth Rs 14,000. I then realized that he had passed it on to someone else. I pleaded with the co-passengers for help, but they just watched. As the train started to move, the man and three of his friends, all in their 20s, pushed me off the train. I landed on the platform and sustained minor bruises. I was lucky to not have slipped into the gap between the platform and the train," added Pawar.
When the teenager approached the Bandra GRP, they reportedly made a note of his phone's IMEI number and assured him that it would be tracked. "Instructing him to be careful, they sent him away with a certificate of loss, which is given when a valuable is lost. But Pawar had been robbed and assaulted. All the GRP had to do was check the CCTV footage of Bandra station for that day and identify the four men. They did not even deem it fit to record a non-cognizable offence," Pawar's uncle Arun told TOI.
But assistant commissioner of police GRP (WR) Pradeep Bijwe said that he had instructed his staff to register an FIR in the matter and they were looking for the stolen phone.
Aditya Pawar had approached the Bandra GRP outpost minutes after the incident, but was sent away with a "certificate of loss". Till date, the GRP have not registered a first information report in the matter.
Pawar, who lives in Dadar, travels to Bandra by train to reach his institute, where he is pursuing an animation course.
He said that on January 22, around 10.45am, as the train crossed Mahim station, he stood near the door of a general compartment. "A young man was blocking the entrance. I asked him to move as I had to get off at the next station. He was rude to me and suddenly yanked off my earphones and my cellphone. By then, the train pulled into Bandra station and I was forced to get off as the crowd behind me wanted to get off too. When I realized that my phone was missing, I got back in," Pawar said.
The collegian grabbed the man who had his phone by the collar. "I asked him to return my handset but he feigned ignorance. I frisked him but could not find my handset, which was worth Rs 14,000. I then realized that he had passed it on to someone else. I pleaded with the co-passengers for help, but they just watched. As the train started to move, the man and three of his friends, all in their 20s, pushed me off the train. I landed on the platform and sustained minor bruises. I was lucky to not have slipped into the gap between the platform and the train," added Pawar.
When the teenager approached the Bandra GRP, they reportedly made a note of his phone's IMEI number and assured him that it would be tracked. "Instructing him to be careful, they sent him away with a certificate of loss, which is given when a valuable is lost. But Pawar had been robbed and assaulted. All the GRP had to do was check the CCTV footage of Bandra station for that day and identify the four men. They did not even deem it fit to record a non-cognizable offence," Pawar's uncle Arun told TOI.
But assistant commissioner of police GRP (WR) Pradeep Bijwe said that he had instructed his staff to register an FIR in the matter and they were looking for the stolen phone.
