An online video footage that surfaced this weekend created quite a turmoil in the state of Maharashtra, India. The video was that of a traffic police officer towing a car with a woman who was apparently breastfeeding her seven-month-old baby inside. The incident took place at SV (Swami Vivekananda) road, Malad.
The woman in the video, Jyoti Male, with her baby, was seated inside the Honda Ciaz parked on SV road as her husband went out in order to make a few purchases. Her repeated pleas to the officer for not towing the car was captured in the video clip which immediately went up on facebook live. The lady affirmed that she was not shown the curtsey of being asked to get off the car before being towed. She also reported that she flashed the medical reports and tried saying her child was unwell, but the all her pleas went unheard.
The constable whose name was revealed as Shashank Rane is placed under suspension until the enquiry is complete.
Car was towed by Traffic Police while the women with her 7 years old baby was sitting in the car.
(Her FB Live)
Yesterday at SV Rd, Malad.@MumbaiPolice plz look into the matter.@PreetiSMenon @aartic02 @neo_pac @tarsemkpahi @Georgekurian4K @RidlrMUM @smart_mumbaikar pic.twitter.com/ZVPtSYYFdM— Muzzammil Hamidani (@MuzzammilAap) November 11, 2017
The action of towing a car, with a woman and an infant inside it, for an offence of double parking was termed as “Absolutely insensitive and dangerous” by Mr Fadnavis, Chief Minister of Maharashtra.
As per the words of Rekha Sharma, Chairperson NCW (National Commission for Women) :
“When I saw the video last night, my first reaction was that the police personnel should be suspended and an action should be taken against him. But I read in the morning that the mother kept sitting inside the moving car. Our first concern is that of the child. If the case goes against the lady, then the lady should be booked”.
However, as the turn of events, another controversial video has popped up, presumably shot before the start of this event. In this video, one can see as well as hear the cops asking the lady to step out from the car. Moreover, we can see that the baby was not in the hands of this lady, instead is with a man standing outside, which leaves one wondering how the baby got inside when the towing began!
This piece of bulletin has found itself in the middle of an internet upsurge for the past couple of days.