Shocking incident
Just a few days back, seven youngsters from Vashi's Sector 28 were hauled up by the Navi Mumbai police, who took them to the police station and detained them for a long time. The boys were just 11 to 13 years of age and their only crime was that they played cricket in their building compound. One of the residents who didn't like the boys playing cricket and had enough political connections, called up the police. The policemen picked the kids up, took them to the police station, and detained them there.
These children are aged between 11 and 13 years. This type of police action is shocking. The thing is all these children were minors and police didn't even bother informing their parents when they took the children to the police station. The parents should discuss this issue with the Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner so that action can be taken against the concerned beat constables. The thing is since the constables didn't inform the parents about the detention their act amounts to abduction.
The summer break from school is largely meant to be spent outside the house playing with friends. The boys had stepped out of their homes at 4 pm to play. While most of them stay at Sun Villa, a couple stay in other nearby buildings. Since there is no open space around their Sun Villa building, they play cricket within their colony compound. Around that time the police got a call from a female resident complaining of the noise the children were creating. Two beat marshals came to the compound somewhere between 5.30 pm and 5.45 pm, and rounded up the children and took them to the police station in the complainant's car. The parents, who had no clue about the police action, found out nearly 40 minutes later after which they rushed to the police station.
The children said that the cops were rude to them. When they were trying to reason with the beat marshals asking why they were being asked to get inside the car, the officers told to shut up and do as was told to them.
The parents are upset with the police attitude. What the police did is outrageous. They could have called the children's parents and told them to take their children away. It is vacation time. What will the children do, if not play?
While the police did not lodge a formal complaint against the children, and let them off with a warning, the incident has scarred the children. They are asking all sorts of questions: 'Is it wrong to play? What wrong did they do? Will they not be able to go down now? Some children are too scared to even step down now. It's not just the children who were hauled up by the police, but others from the colony are also afraid that if they step down to play they will be taken away by the cops.
The police have defended themselves by saying that it was just a normal complaint which police attended to and that they just spoke to the children and that the matter has been resolved. Since they sent the children back with their parents after a warning, they didn't consider it as a big issue.
The parents were agitated initially but now they have withdrawn their complaint. But what about the children? What impression about the police will they harbour throughout their lives?
Just a few days back, seven youngsters from Vashi's Sector 28 were hauled up by the Navi Mumbai police, who took them to the police station and detained them for a long time. The boys were just 11 to 13 years of age and their only crime was that they played cricket in their building compound. One of the residents who didn't like the boys playing cricket and had enough political connections, called up the police. The policemen picked the kids up, took them to the police station, and detained them there.
These children are aged between 11 and 13 years. This type of police action is shocking. The thing is all these children were minors and police didn't even bother informing their parents when they took the children to the police station. The parents should discuss this issue with the Navi Mumbai Police Commissioner so that action can be taken against the concerned beat constables. The thing is since the constables didn't inform the parents about the detention their act amounts to abduction.
The summer break from school is largely meant to be spent outside the house playing with friends. The boys had stepped out of their homes at 4 pm to play. While most of them stay at Sun Villa, a couple stay in other nearby buildings. Since there is no open space around their Sun Villa building, they play cricket within their colony compound. Around that time the police got a call from a female resident complaining of the noise the children were creating. Two beat marshals came to the compound somewhere between 5.30 pm and 5.45 pm, and rounded up the children and took them to the police station in the complainant's car. The parents, who had no clue about the police action, found out nearly 40 minutes later after which they rushed to the police station.
The children said that the cops were rude to them. When they were trying to reason with the beat marshals asking why they were being asked to get inside the car, the officers told to shut up and do as was told to them.
The parents are upset with the police attitude. What the police did is outrageous. They could have called the children's parents and told them to take their children away. It is vacation time. What will the children do, if not play?
While the police did not lodge a formal complaint against the children, and let them off with a warning, the incident has scarred the children. They are asking all sorts of questions: 'Is it wrong to play? What wrong did they do? Will they not be able to go down now? Some children are too scared to even step down now. It's not just the children who were hauled up by the police, but others from the colony are also afraid that if they step down to play they will be taken away by the cops.
The police have defended themselves by saying that it was just a normal complaint which police attended to and that they just spoke to the children and that the matter has been resolved. Since they sent the children back with their parents after a warning, they didn't consider it as a big issue.
The parents were agitated initially but now they have withdrawn their complaint. But what about the children? What impression about the police will they harbour throughout their lives?
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