WHY WERE YOU ARRESTED?

Women who spent night in police lock-up after Borivli protests are in social disgrace as their families find it difficult to accept the fact that they were arrested
GEETA DESAI
Mansi Walinjkar’s husband was furious when she called up to tell him that she had been arrested for protesting on the tracks against Western Railway authorities on Wednesday. “Are you the only leader people wanted, he asked me, and I had no answer,” said Mansi, 35, who works in a private firm at Churchgate. “Why should you get arrested when there were hundreds of women protesting on the tracks, he wanted to know.” Another protester, Madhavi Randive, too was extremely disturbed by her arrest. “My in-laws and my husband are very upset with me. We are from a decent family, no one has ever stepped into police stations. But I had to spend a full night in the lock-up. Even recalling it is a horrifying experience. I will never forget it in my life,” lamented Madhavi. On Wednesday, police thrashed and humiliated 32 protesters including 19 women, before arresting them. Now, Mansi, Madhavi and other women protesters are upset as their families are finding it hard to accept the fact that they were arrested. “They have to face the music from their husbands and in-laws. A few women even feared that their husbands would stop them from working,” said advocate Inderpal B Singh. Mansi was almost out of Borivli railway station when police started the lathi-charge. “Some people were arrested and others were being beaten up mercilessly, so we started moving out of the railway station, but the police dragged us to the GRP station. We tried telling them that we were not on the railway platform, but they did not listen to us,” she said. “We were beaten and lined up. Our vakalatnama was ready by 3.30 pm. We were supposed to be taken to Bhagwati Hospital before being produced in court, but police delayed it as they wanted to ‘teach us a lesson’,” added Mansi. By then, it was 7 pm and Mansi was worried that her son would be waiting for her. She called her husband when she realised that she would be taken to police lock-up. "There were hundreds of women on the tracks, but only 19 were caught... But our efforts should not go to waste. Trains should start from platforms 1, 2 and 3.” “They were charged under Section 148, related to rioting with deadly weapons, but they only had handbags and tiffins. This is not done,” said Singh. Two of the arrested women are advocates. All 32 protesters were released on bail on Thursday.