Mumbai Police registers FIR against unidentified persons for attacking journalists

MUMBAI: An FIR has been registered against a group of unidentified persons for allegedly abusing and manhandling journalists in suburban Oshiwara in the wee hours of Wednesday when they were covering an incident of a woman's death after falling in an open drain, police said.

Komal Jayram Mandal (19) fell into the drain in Adarsh Nagar near Mega Mall in Oshiwara around 7:45 pm on Tuesday. The fire brigade and police managed to find her around 3:20 am on Wednesday and rushed her to Shatabdi Hospital where doctors declared her dead on admission, the police said.

Later, eight to ten journalists from various media organisations went to the place to speak to the woman's mother about the mishap. "We went to speak to the victim's mother. Later, when we all were about to leave on our vehicles, a group of 10 to 15 people stopped us and started abusing us. They manhandled us, saying 'tum media wale kuch bhi sawaal karte ho' (you mediapersons ask anything)," one of the journalists alleged.

He further said the journalists ignored the comments, but after they reached Bhagat Singh Nagar located nearby, the miscreants allegedly started pushing and manhandling the mediapersons, and abused them. "They all were drunk. They made videos while abusing and manhandling us. After reaching the main road, we saw some policeman on patrolling duty who helped us reach the Bangur Nagar police station. We immediately informed senior Mumbai police officials about the incident and lodged an FIR against the miscreants," he added.

An official at Bangur Nagar police station said they have registered the First Information Report (FIR) against seven to nine unidentified persons under IPC Sections 143, 147, 149 (unlawful assembly and rioting), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 34 (common intention). He added that an investigation was underway in the case.