The Maratha caste survey began on January 23. Before that, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) requested Mumbaikars to cooperate with enumerators by providing necessary information for the survey. Despite the request issued by the municipal authorities to the citizens, incidents of assault and violence took place in Mumbai.
A resident of a housing society assaulted a female worker conducting the Maratha survey in Bandra West. The Bandra Police have registered an FIR against the resident based on the complaint of the enumerator, and the police have summoned the resident for questioning in the incident, according to an Indian Express report.
According to the report, the incident occurred on Wednesday (January 31) when the BMC worker Aditi Chipkar went to a housing society in Mumbai's Bandra West to conduct a caste survey. A resident on the eighth floor of the society building was hostile towards her and refused to provide any information for the survey, encouraging other residents to do the same.
When Chipkar went to a lower floor and was speaking to another resident of the society, the accused woman followed her and abused her. “When I tried clarifying that I was just performing my duty, the situation escalated as the resident from Room 801 descended for the altercation. I was physically dragged and compelled to go downstairs, with guards instructed to push me out,” Chipkar said, as reported by the Indian Express.
Chipkar then reported the incident to her senior, Dr Diksha Banerjee, a medical officer from Bandra, who rushed to the building and tried to pacify the woman. “While things cooled down for some time, the 8th-floor resident followed us when we were on the third floor and started abusing us. She was stopping the other residents from participating in the survey. Then she grabbed me by my throat,” Chipkar said. The woman then turned her attention towards Dr Banerjee, who was also assaulted.
Chipkar said, “She assaulted the doctor, slapping her and kicking her leg.” The two then went to the Bandra police station, where an FIR was filed against the resident. “We have booked the accused under sections 353 (individual either uses or threatens to use criminal force specifically to deter a public servant from performing their duty) and 332 (offence of voluntarily causing harm to deter a public worker from doing his duties) of the Indian Penal Code and are further investigating the matter,” said Sanjay Marathe, senior inspector of Bandra police station. “We haven’t made any arrests as of now. We have sent a notice to the accused, summoning her to the police station,” Marathe told the Indian Express.
Meanwhile, the police have requested BMC officials to allow 48 hours for their investigation into the matter. A senior officer from BMC stated, “If the police do not take any action against the resident, then we will decide the next course of action. The enumerators were performing their duties, and if someone chooses not to participate, no one can force them. However, assaulting and abusing a doctor is a criminal act.”