On Monday, a 19-year-old boy was brutally thrashed and kicked by some residents and a local cable operator in a Kandivali building in Mumbai. You would think he would have committed a major crime to have earned such kind of horrible treatment, but no.
His only fault was that he smoked in the vicinity of the building and was allegedly being ‘rude’, reported Mumbai Mirror.
Alexander John Philip, who suffers from dyslexia and is appearing for HSC exams, told Mumbai Mirror his side of the story:
“I was smoking on the pavement abutting Vishnu Shivam Tower when a group of men demanded to know why did I light a cigarette in a residential area? I politely told them the road was not their private property and began to walk away when one of them grabbed my shirt and demanded to know my address.”
The assault
After investigations, it has now emerged that the prime figure behind the thrashing incident was an influential cable operator Sada Kadam, who is the brother of Shiv Sena leader Ramdas Kadam, Mumbai Mirror reported.
Not only did they beat him up, they also searched Alexander’s bag and recovered a quarter bottle of alcohol. That provoked the vigilantes and gave them all the more reason to assault him as residents have allegedly complained about youngsters drinking, smoking, and loitering near the building. Sada who led the assault also went on to say that those ‘loitering’ outside his building will be shooed away.
The Shiv Sena connection
Denying any sort of affiliation with his brother Ramdas Kadam, Sada said that he has had differences with his brother for a long time.
”I have never used his name, nor am I active in the Shiv Sena. I am not the one who will get involved in street fights. My business is legitimate, and my focus is on my sons who I want to ensure are well-educated”, he said.
What next?
After the incident, a complaint against ‘unknown people’ has been lodged for beating up Philip because he didn’t name anyone.