www.freepressjournal.

in mumbai
Mumbai, Wednesday, July 3, 2024

Videos show mother thrashing

kids; ex-judge demands action
Pranali Lotlikar
MUMBAI
A retired judge of the Bombay
High Court has written to the
Mumbai Police, the State
Human Rights Commission
(SHRC) and the State Child
Rights Commission over an in-
stance of what appears to be
physical abuse of two children
by their mother.
Judge (Retd) SJ Kathawalla
has also sent video recordings,
which went viral on Tuesday.
The FPJ has copies of the
letters and the videos.
The videos show the mother
screaming at her children, a
girl and a boy, and repeatedly
hitting them with a belt. The
judge has also urged the auth-
orities to take action against
Child trafficking: Bail
the “wrongdoers”.
Kathawalla has marked
copies of his letters to the Chief
Justice of the Bombay HC, Jus-
tice Devendra Kumar Upad-
hyaya, and Police
Commissioner Vivek Phansal-
kar, requesting them to look
into the matter. He has also ex-
pressed willingness to offer as-
sistance in moving the
children to a safe environment.
In the letter written to Su-
sieben Shah, chairperson of
the Child Rights Commission,
he says, “I am forwarding
three video clips which I have
just come across. It can be
seen from the said video clips
that two minor, innocent and
helpless, children are being
mercilessly beaten up and
tortured by a lady who ap-
pears to be their mother. The
video clips shows that the
mother is not only repeatedly
belting the minor on more
than one occasion, but she is
using abusive language. She
has almost threatened to kill
them.”
The letter further reads, “I
am of the view that it is dan-
gerous to keep the children in
her company, even for a min-
ute, and that the minors
should be shifted to a home
where they are taken care off
and fully protected... thus re-
questing the commission to
enquire and take necessary
action in the matter at the
earliest.”
The letter to SHRC Chair-
man Justice (Retd) KK Tated
also refers to the videos and re-
quests the panel to take cogni-
sance of the case.
Kathawalla, while speaking
to the FPJ, said, “Referring to
the video, it appears that the
couple must be going through
some domestic disputes, but it
should not be vented out on
children. Even though the
Three months after
Vijay Gohil
video is a year old, it definitely
calls for a probe and hence I
have written it to the con-
cerned authorities, to take up
the matter at its earliest.”
Kathawalla confirmed that
he had received a phone call
from the Social Service De-
partment of the Mumbai Po-
lice, “In such a case, an FIR
should be filed against both
the parents, first for allegedly
physically abusing them, and
second for allegedly ‘simply
filming’ the entire alleged as-
sault,”Kathawalla said. Mind the gap
According to a senior police The newly installed height barrier on Sion road overbridge. The 112-year-old
official, the video is not of a re- ROB is now shut for heavy vehicles and automobiles towering above 2.8 metres.
cent incident. Yet the Vanrai
police have taken cognisance
and have recorded the state-
ments of the mother, father
and the two children.
Two on motorcycle fall off
Goregaon bridge after crash
Megha Kuchik
MUMBAI
(East), where doctors pro-
nounced them dead upon arri-
the Goregaon East-West fly-
over, landing near the MTNL

rescue, ordeal of
val. The Goregaon police have junction on SV Road in Gore-

for 10, including doctor Two people were killed when

their motorcycle crashed into
registered an accidental death
report (ADR).
gaon (West).
Both men died on the spot.

9 kids still not over

barricades on Goregaon According to the police, the An unidentified individual re-
Charul Shah Joshi / bridge on Monday morning, motorcycle belonged to ported the accident to the po-
Vishal Singh

Aishwarya Iyer
MUMBAI
In the child trafficking racket
for illegal adoption, the
sessions court, on June 21,
granted bail to 10 persons, in-
cluding a doctor. The court
said that it cannot be said it
was “for exploitation of
children”.
On April 28, the Mumbai
crime branch unit 2 had busted
the racket and arrested seven
persons, and the accused doc-
tor, Dr Sanjay Khandare. The
gang either kidnapped
children or got consent of their
biological parents with a bribe
ranging from Rs80,000 to Rs4
lakh. So far, the police have ar-
rested 35 persons in the case.
Of these 18 have been granted
bail and the rest are still in cus-
tody. The crime branch, mean-
while, is preparing to move the
Bombay High Court against
the bail order.
Granting bail to Dr Khan-
dare, sessions judge VM Pa-
thade said the offence prima
facie does not fall under the
definition of human trafficking
as section 370 includes “exploi-
tation”. The court also raised
several questions on the crime
branch, saying it’s not clear
who the biological parents of
these children are, what the
role of the accused persons
was, and “in what way, when,
Officials with seven of the accused in April
from where, from whom the
physical custody of those
children was obtained and
then delivered to prospective
buyers”.
A crime branch officer said
on condition of anonymity,
that they had submitted all
material concerning their in-
vestigation that proves human
trafficking as per Indian laws.
He said ‘morality’ should be
seen differently if the action is
going against the law.
A police official said, “The
so-called agents did not have
good intentions when they
were sourcing children from
financially deprived married
couples, who they convinced
using greed for money. Even
though these children were
provided to childless couples
for a good future, our law goes
against the concept of selling
or buying a human being re-
gardless of the reasoning.”
The officer added, “We had
submitted a chart specifying
the ‘tasks’ of the agents. In the
group of agents, one was re-
sponsible for sourcing
children after enquiring with
neighbours and locals, be-
sides arranging a doctor for
the delivery. Another agent
was given the task to convince
the parents using skills and
money. The third was respon-
sible for transportation; inter-
state or even district level. The
next agent managed the child-
less couple, their demands,
and the legality, including pa-
perwork – which included
forged documentation, if
necessary. These intentions
have to be questioned keeping
in mind the legal point of
view.”
Charul Shah Joshi /
Aishwarya Iyer
MUMBAI
Three months after the police
busted an illegal child traffick-
ing racket, the ordeal of the
nine kids rescued is far from
over. Two of them are lodged
with the Bal Asha Trust, an
adoption agency
children’s home, and the rest
and
are being looked after by the
Child Welfare Committee.
The police has managed to
identify the parents of only
The police have
managed to identify
the parents of only
two children so far
two kids so far. They have
again been sent for adoption
to the state’s nodal trust for
adoption.
A source claimed that the
accused had created forged
identities of the children’s bio-
logical parents, making it dif-
ficult to trace them.
The officials confirmed that
they had traced a parent of
one of the children in Hydera-
bad. He will be soon brought
to Mumbai for interrogation.
Meanwhile, the police con-
tinues investigations to trace
more children and their bio-
logical parents. The auth-
orities are set to file
chargesheet against 35 ac-
cused arrested.
As per the Mumbai Crime
Branch, they received in-
formation that a woman had
sold her child through Sheetal
Ware, one of the accused.
Ware sold the child to a family
in Ratnagiri for 2lakh. This she
could do with the help of Sha-
rad Maroti Devar, Dr Sanjay
Khandare and Vandana
Pawar.
Further probe revealed that
Ware received Rs20,000 in the
said deal. Meanwhile, Devar,
who acted as middleman,
worked for the donor of Dha-
nashri Fertility Agency and as
such knew Dr Khandare.
Khandare got him introduced
to Pawar whose relative
needed a child. In this sale
Khandare recieved Rs50,000.
After this the police went
on to rescue nine children and
arrest 35 people. Police
sources also confirmed that
most of the ‘target’ places
from where children are
sourced, “even kidnapped”, in-
clude Telangana, Hyderabad,
Secunderabad, and Visakha-
patnam, where parents are as-
sured hefty amounts (more
than Rs2.5 lakh going up to
Rs5 lakh per child) in return.
police said.
Vaibhav Gamre, 28, and
Anand Ingale, 21, were thrown
off the bridge by the force of
the impact, the police said.
The police transported the
victims to the HBT Trauma
Care Centre in Jogeshwari
Lake levels
rise 2% after
light showers
FPJ News Service
MUMBAI
Light showers in the catch-
ment areas of seven lakes have
brought a ray of hope for the
city facing a water crisis. The
lakes’ level has risen 2% and
reached 7.15%.
Despite the early arrival of
monsoon, the city is yet to re-
ceive good rain. Last month,
there was no rainfall in the
catchment area of the lakes lo-
cated in Thane and Nashik
districts, and the lakes’ level
dropped to 5% (only 15 days of
water stock).
However, the civic body is
supplying water to the city
from the additional stock al-
lotted by the state govern-
ment from Upper Vaitarna
and Bhatsa lakes.
Gamre, although it was not
clear who was driving the ve-
hicle at the time of the incident.
The accident took place
near MTNL. The driver lost
control of the vehicle and
crashed into the side barri-
cades. The two men fell from
CBI seizes `1.6 crore in
passport bribery probe
Somendra Sharma /
MUMBAI
The CBI recently seized Rs1.59
crore in cash from the prem-
ises of a passport agent / tout
as part of a bribery investiga-
tion involving several passport
assistants. During the searches
on June 30 and July 1, officials
also seized incriminating ma-
terial in form of five diaries
and digital evidence, the
agency said on Tuesday.
The agent is suspected of
colluding with officials to fa-
cilitate issuance of passports in
exchange for benefits.
The CBI had registered a
dozen cases on June 28 against
14 officials, including passport
assistants / senior passport as-
sistants, posted at Passport
Sews Kendras (PSKs) of Lower
Parel and Malad, and 18 pass-
lice, who promptly arrived at
the scene.
The bodies of the victims
have been handed over to the
families, Senior Inspector Dilip
Bhosale said. An ADR has
been registered and further
probe is underway, he said.
port facilitation agents / touts
on allegations that the officials
posted at Lower Parel and
Malad were colluding with
agents / touts and indulging in
corrupt practices.
The officials were allegedly
in contact with passport facili-
tation agents and conspiring
with them to obtain undue ad-
vantage in lieu of issuance of
passport based on inadequate
/ incomplete documents or by
manipulating the personal
particulars of passport appli-
cants, officials said.
These cases arose out of
checks conducted by the CBI
on June 26 at Lower Parel and
Malad along with vigilance of-
ficers of the Passport Seva
Programme Division, Minis-
try of External Affairs, and the
Regional Passport Office,
Mumbai.

Trusted brand with a legacy of 38 years

3,000+ SKUs across the steel wire industry

5,000+ customers spread across various sectors*

Exporting products to several countries

including U.S. and Europe

One of the Asia’s largest# steel wire

manufacturing facility coming up in Dadri

*Since 2021. | #in terms of capacity.

Disclaimer: Bansal Wire Industries Limited is proposing, subject to, receipt of requisite approvals, market conditions and other
considerations, to undertake an initial public offer of its Equity Shares and has filed the DRHP dated January 18, 2024 with SEBI on
January 19, 2024 and the RHP dated June 27, 2024 with the RoC, Delhi and Haryana at New Delhi. The RHP is available on the website
of the Company at www.bansalwire.com, SEBI at www.sebi.gov.in, as well as on the websites of the BRLMs, i.e. www.sbicaps.com and
www.damcapital.in and the websites of National Stock Exchange of India Limited and BSE Limited at www.nseindia.com and
www.bseindia.com, respectively. Any potential investor should note that investment in equity shares involves a high degree of risk and
for details relating to such risk, please see “Risk Factors” of the RHP, on page 34. Potential investors should not rely on the DRHP for
making any investment decision but can only rely on the information included in the Red Herring Prospectus.
This announcement does not constitute an offer of Equity Shares for sale in any jurisdiction, including the United States, and the Equity
Shares offered in the Issue may not be offered or sold in the United States absent registration under the U.S. Securities Act of 1933 or
an exemption from registration. Any public offering of the Equity Shares to be made in the United States will be made by means of a www.bansalwire.com
prospectus that may be obtained from the Company and that will contain detailed information about the Company and management,
as well as financial statements. However, the Equity Shares offered in the Issue are not being offered or sold in the United States.
Adfactors