A sessions court has sentenced a 27-year-old labourer found sleeping in CSMT platform’s bench to 1 year and 7 months in prison for refusing to budge, abusing and challenging on-duty cops when they woke him up and asked him to leave.
The incident had taken place at midnight on Nov 24, 2020, when the informant Maruti Mohite was patrolling CSMT’s platform no 15 with his detection squad during which they found a person sleeping on the platform bench. The officers woke him up and asked him to leave but he refused to do so.
Mohite was in civil clothes but had identified himself to the person. Testifying before the court later, Mohite said that the person had spoken back, abused him and also dared to do as the cops please, but refused to leave. The police then took him to the police station.
He was booked for IPC offences Sec 353 (obstructing public servant from performing duty), Sec 504 (provoking, knowing that it can cause breach of public peace) among other offences.
Assistant Sessions Judge RK Kshirsagar said in the order that the informant was obstructed when he was discharging his public duty and the prosecution has proved that the accused used criminal force against him.
While holding Rameshwar Rathoda, a resident of Panvel, guilty of provoking and breaching public peace, the court said that the accused threatened the officer while he was discharging his public duty.
