Villagers wrongfully restrain 2 govt officers after suicide bid by sarpanch; 16 booked
Thane (PTI): A woman sarpanch of a group panchayat and her family in Navi Mumbai allegedly tried to commit suicide, following which several villagers wrongfully restrained two government officers in protest, police said on Thursday.
The incident took place on Tuesday and the Panvel Taluka police have registered a case against 16 persons from Chikle village in Navi Mumbai, they said.
On July 26, the sarpanch of the group grampanchayat in Chikle, Deepali Tandel, submitted a letter to local authorities expressing grievance over alleged inaction in a land-related matter.
In her letter, she warned that if no action was taken, she and her family would lock themselves at home and consume poison, the police said.
Taking cognisance of the letter, the gram panchayat's rural development officer along with the block development officer went to the sarpanch's residence on Tuesday to pacify her, a police official said.
"On reaching the house, they found it locked from within. Suspecting a suicide attempt, they broke open the door and pulled out the sarpanch and her family members, who had allegedly consumed poison, and immediately arranged for them to be shifted to a hospital," the official said.
While the family was rushed for medical treatment, some villagers targeted the two officers who had intervened on their way back, he said,
The villagers formed an unlawful assembly, waylaid the jeep of the officers and squatted in front of the vehicle, restraining them for nearly an hour. The protesters demanded action on the sarpanch's complaint, the police said.
Following a complaint by the rural development officer, a case was registered against the protesters under sections 189(2) (unlawful assembly), 126(2) (wrongful restraint) and 3(5) (common intention) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, the official said.
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Niqab incident: Nitish Kumar perhaps revealing his true colours, says J-K CM
Srinagar (PTI): Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah on Wednesday criticised his Bihar counterpart over the niqab incident and said that Nitish Kumar might be slowly revealing his true nature.
"Nitish Kumar, who was once considered a secular leader, may be slowly showing his true colours," Abdullah told reporters here on the sidelines of a function.
Abdullah said Kumar removing the face veil of a Muslim woman doctor was wrong and cannot be justified by any means.
"We have seen this kind of incident here several years ago. Have you forgotten how Mehbooba Mufti removed the burqa of a legitimate voter inside a polling station? That act was wrong, and this act (of Kumar) is also wrong.
"If the (Bihar) chief minister did not want to hand over the order to her (Muslim woman), they could have kept her aside. However, to humiliate her like this is totally wrong," the Jammu and Kashmir chief minister said.
Kumar stirred a huge controversy after he removed the face veil of a Muslim woman at a function earlier this week.
