extorting money dog slum police complaint . Indian Penal Code A family residing at Shivnerinagar in Kondhwa was assaulted by a mob from their neighbouring— Bhavani Chawl — allegedly for feeding the area’s stray dogs and defending them. Ahas been lodged by the family on March 12, the day the incident took place.However, despite the cops arresting the main accused the very next day, the family continues to be harassed by other chawl residents repeatedly, pushing them to turn to the cops again on Wednesday.The Bengali family has been residing in the area for 30 years now. Renu Banerjee (60), a retired teacher from Bishop’s School in Camp, has been feeding the stray dogs for long, which is resented by the slumdwellers. “Every night, they hit the dogs, claiming that they are biting residents. We feed them in our private garage without impeding on anyone’s space,” she argued.However, the situation took a violent turn after her daughter-in-law Aanchal and her sister Mansi Dua spotted a dog severely injured by the chawl people and confronted the perpetrators. This provoked a mob to land up at the Banerjee home on March 6. A heated spat ensued and an attempt was made to attack Renu. However, the situation was somehow diffused and mob left after issuing violent threats.But clearly, the matter did not end there. On March 12, a bigger mob returned, broke into the Banerjee home and attacked the family members, sparing no one. Renu’s son Surjo, who works with a well-established bio-pharma firm in the US, observed, “These people have been harassing us for years. But that day, they came as a big crowd, attacked me, manhandled my mother and even inappropriately touched my sister-in-law as she was recording the incident on her phone. On the first day, they tried extorting money, demanding Rs 3,000-5,000, citing dog bites. When this did not work, they returned with a bigger force.”His wife Aanchal recounted, “We had gone to reason with them. They came a day later with complaints of dog bites. They insisted that as we feed the dogs, they belong to us, and we have to take onus. But they could not validate their claims of dog bites. Next, they gathered a bigger mob (of 50) under local muscleman Anil Jadhav, broke our gate and dragged us out. Jadhav even instigated the residents to sign a complaint against us, which they lodged with the police.” The entire episode was also recorded on the CCTV cameras put up at the Banerjee house, the footage of which has been handed to the cops.The family, including Renu’s husband Samiran, had to rush to Sassoon General Hospitals after the attack. Surjo had been thrashed by 10 men; Renu and Aanchal were also attacked with sticks. “They attempted to kill us. I am terrified now. I have been helping the slumdwellers with drinking water and other amenities whenever required. Now, they’ve crossed all limits of tolerance with this attack on a senior citizen,” Renu decried.Kondhwa police have identified and arrested four as the main accused —Prabha Marathe, Manjura Marathe, Ganesh Marathe and Ravindra Muke. They’ve been booked under sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 148 (rioting with deadly weapon), 441 (criminal trespassing), 323 (assault), 427 (causing damage) and 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) of the. “We arrested the accused immediately from the spot. On Wednesday, we recorded their statements. We’ve increased our patrolling in the area,” informed the investigating officer, subinspector AK Chaous. He, however, said he had nothing incriminating against Anil Jadhav in the incident.Meanwhile, deputy commissioner of police (Zone V), Prakash Gaikwad, said, “I have promised full assistance and security. We have even held a meeting with the slum residents to ensure the act is not repeated.”

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