Mumbai: A 28-year-old practising advocate was allegedly beaten up by four policemen who were on duty in the Bandra-Kurla Complex area on Sunday.
The advocate, Abid Abbas Sayyed, was on his two-wheeler, while his friend Faiyyaz Shaikh was riding pillion. They crossed the BKC signal where the police, attached to the BKC police station, were on duty in Naka Bandi. At around 12.30am on Sunday, the police officials stopped Sayyed and asked for his name, identity card, driver's licence and vehicle documents.
'They got aggressive and started abusing me in the name of my religion': Advocate alleges
Sayyed told the Free Press Journal that his documents were in his four-wheeler, but he had soft copies in his Digilocker on a mobile phone application. Sayyed said he politely asked the policemen to wait till he could load the documents on his phone and show them to them.
“They got aggressive and started abusing me in the name of my religion. The verbal abuse was getting intense, after which they pushed me down and got violent and aggressive towards me. The official was a head constable, and I could see Poojary written on his badge, he slapped me and started abusing which was joined by two more officers who assaulted me with Fibre-Baton, punches, and kicks,” he said.
Sayyed further added that the constables who were standing near the police van commented saying he should be killed and that his body could be dumped in the nearby Mithi River. “They weren’t conscious, they were drunk. It was visible, I could smell it. It was horrible, I was almost strangled,” said Sayyed, who added that the incident was no less than lynching as the policemen remarked him as a “terrorist”. “It is a clear example of religious atrocity, it was extremely hurtful to hear them call me ‘desh drohi’, as a word subjected against my community,” he added.
Sayyed also added that they threatened to charge him with section 353 of the Indian Penal Code which states: 'Whoever assaults a public servant on duty or prevents them from doing their job can be punished with up to two years in prison, a fine or both'.
Complaint filed with DCP Zone 8
“It was shocking to me as a lawyer to undergo such atrocity. I am a practising lawyer; I have good friends in the police circle with whom I work and eat, and now I suffer such an incident. After this, it hit my conscious that somewhere in their minds, no matter how friendly they are, they have mainstream communal beliefs. In our own country, it is hurtful that we have to prove our loyalty.”
Sayyed has written a complaint to the Deputy Commissioner of Police Zone 8, the Commissioner of Police, the Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, the Chairman/Secretary of the Bar Council of Maharashtra and Goa, and the Present/Secretary of the Kurla Court Bar Association. “The atrocities and violence against advocates are increasing in our country. We need to implement the Advocate Protection Act bill for all over India for protection and proper administration of justice and well-being of all fellow advocates who were and may face such situation,” concluded Sayyed who will meet the Mumbai Commissioner regarding registering a first information report (FIR) against the three police constable and one sub-inspector and to suspend and arrest them for assaulting him.
A senior police official told the FPJ that the matter is being investigated by the division ACP (Kherwadi). “It will be thoroughly investigated by our officers, and if anyone is found guilty, strict actions will be taken against them,” the official said.
