A car with a woman sitting in the rear seat was towed by the Mumbai traffic police on while she was breastfeeding her seven-month-old child.
She shouted and asked the traffic policemen to stop and flashed her medical prescription from the window saying she was unwell but the cop appeared unconcerned and continued speaking on the mobile phone.
The man conveying the message to the traffic cop was also recording the video. It is unclear from the video if he was with the woman. Eyewitnesses say that he was the driver of the car and related to that woman.
Policeman suspended
Devendra Fadnavis said the policeman has been suspended and termed the episode "unfortunate". The woman, who has been identified as Jyoti Male, said that the traffic policeman did not ask her to get down even once. "The policemen towing the car did not even once ask me to get down, even when I told them that I am breastfeeding my baby they still did not stop," she told news agency ANI. (ndtv.com)
The law about towing
The rules of the police are very clear that when a policeman ask you to step away from the car, you are supposed to come out. It is considered that the vehicle is in the police's custody then. But in this case the woman said that the policeman did not ask her to exit the car.
In this case the cop also did not care to respond to the videographer. The videographer continued to prod the policeman with questions as he ran and back and forth from the car. He asked the traffic cop to stop towing as something untoward could happen to both woman and child, but the policeman looked unmoved and continued speaking over his mobile phone.
The policeman reportedly also claimed to have a video to counter the other side's version. The woman said that two other vehicles parked there were not picked and her car was chosen for towing without listening to her desperate pleas. "They ignored the two other vehicles, but towed away a car in which a woman with an infant was sitting. They don't have guts to take action against the other vehicles here," she said from the moving car.
Following strong all-round condemnation, protests and adverse publicity in the social media to the video posted by a user "Rakhi Rakhi", the Traffic Police Department on Saturday ordered a probe into the shocking incident. (economictimes.indiatimes.com)