A day after thousands of restive migrant workers gathered in front of the Bandra Railway Station demanding that they be allowed to return to their native places, the Mumbai Police on Wednesday arrested a social worker for his social media posts and booked a television journalist for his “incorrect” news leading to huge crowds in front the railway station on Tuesday evening.
On a day when the investigations by the police and cyber wing of the city police threw up new facts that suggested the incident might have been sparked by the alleged irresponsible acts by a social worker and journalist, the Bandra police arrested Vinay Dubey, a social activist from Airoli in Navi Mumbai and brought him to Mumbai.
“He (Dubey) has been remanded to police custody till 21 April,” Deputy Commissioner of Police Abhishek Trimukhe said.
Having taken serious cognisance of the crowds gathered suddenly in front of the Bandra Railway Station on Tuesday evening, Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray had ordered a thorough probe into the incident.
In all, the Bandra police have filed three FIRs in connection with the incident.
Dubey has been booked under sections 143 (Whoever is a member of an unlawful assembly), 147 (punishment for rioting), 149 (every member of unlawful assembly guilty of offence committed in prosecution of common object), 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 186 (obstructing public servant in discharge of public functions) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Besides, Section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act has also been invoked against them.
Simultaneously, the Bandra police registered an FIR against Rahul Kulkarni, a correspondent with a Marathi news channel in Osmanabad, for allegedly reporting “incorrect” news that trains would restart. The news report on ABP Majha is said to have been based on a letter written by a South Central Railway official on April 13 on a proposal for Jansadharan special trains.
In a video message which went viral on social media prior to April 14, Dubey slams the Prime Minister for the unplanned manner in which the latter enforced lockdown in the country which landed migrant workers based in Maharashtra in deep trouble. He says he had organised 40 buses to take back these people to their native place, written to the Chief Ministers of various north-Indian and other States that he be permitted to take back the migrants their native places free of cost and that had not got any permission for the same.
Continuing, Dubey appealed to the Railway Ministry and the Prime Minister requesting them to organise special trains with unreserved compartments in two to three days from Mumbai, Nashik and Pune to take back migrants to their native States of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand and Western Bengal. “On their arrival in their States, it is okay if they are quarantined for 14 days before allowing to go their home,” he said.
Dubey said that if the buses are permitted to move out of Maharashtra and trains were not run by the Railways after the lockdown lasting till April 14, he would lead all the migrants to their respective States by foot by April 20, come what may and he would feed them en route. During the course of his message, he gives his mobile number and asks people to call him and give him the number of people that would accompany him and he also says he would provide all the information to the State Government.