On 11th November, a LIVE video was posted on Facebook by username Rakhi Rakhi. As per the LIVE video, there was a man shouting his lungs out, trying to stop a traffic policeman from towing a car in which a woman was breastfeeding a baby.
This video went viral. It brought huge backlash on Mumbai Police. So much so that the CM of Maharashtra, Mr Devendra Fadnavis also condemned the incident and made this statement to ANI – “It is very unfortunate and absolutely insensitive and dangerous to tow the vehicle with the lady and the child inside. The cop is suspended and orders have been given to sensitize traffic cops so as to prevent such incidents.” In case you have not watched the video, watch it below.
The video starts with a man (husband of the breastfeeding woman in the car) shouting the name – Shashank Rane, which is the name of the on duty traffic cop. This man then shouts that the lady (Rakhi Dadhich) is sitting in the car with a 7 month old baby, and still the cop is towing the car. At this point in the video, Rakhi is not breastfeeding the child. The man then heads to the tow van, where he continues to ask the cop why is he towing the car when there is a woman in the car. He suggests that why is he not charging a fine and let the woman go, instead towing a car with woman and child on board.
With the cop deciding not to respond to the questions asked, the man heads back to the car, where Rakhi has now decided to breastfeed the baby. She is then screaming that tell the driver to drive slow as she is breastfeeding. All this while the man is walking back and forth from the car and towing van, which shows how fast the towing van was moving.
The man now starts shouting that the woman is breastfeeding inside the car and still the cop is towing the car. He then asks question that if the kid dies because of the towing, who is responsible? The man has started screaming and shouting by now, trying to get attention of public. The man continues to say that the van is speeding, but at the same time he is able to walk on his feet from the car to the van and back. The cop stops the towing van, probably asked for support.
The man has now walked back to the woman, asking her what is happening? Before the woman speaks, he says something to her which sounds like this – “Ros boke bos bol”. As per language experts we spoke to, this is probably a secret language between the man and woman. Most likely the man told the woman – “ro ke bol” or “cry and talk”. Immediately after this, the woman starts crying and says that she has told the cop that she is sick and requested not to tow her car. She complains that in front of her car, there were two more cars which were in no parking zone, but in spite of that, the cop decided to tow only her car. The video ends.
This created uproar and citizens demanded action. As a result, enquiry was ordered and the cop, Mr Rane was suspended. Now, two days later, a new video has surfaced, which shows us how it all started. The new video shows that when the cop first started towing the car, there was no woman or baby in the car. In fact, the woman (Rakhi) was standing outside the car while the baby was in the arms of a man. Watch the new video below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6pMM7Aft6DY
Bystanders reveal that there was an argument between the couple and the cop Shashank Rane. The couple had parked the car in no parking zone, and were arguing that why was the cop not towing other cars and was towing only their cars. The couple was also arguing the fact that the cop was not wearing a name badge and thus did not have the right to perform his duty. The cop told them to pay a fine, and leave. The couple refused to pay fine. The cop then decided to continue to tow the car.
This angered the couple. The lady then goes inside and sits in the car’s rear seat. This does not stop the cop. It is now, that the baby is handed over to Rakhi by her husband. The cop continues with his duty and decides to tow the car. After this, the husband created the LIVE video on facebook.
The baby was outside the car.