"I reported the matter to the Nagpada police and showed the officers the video, they refused to register an FIR and instead lodged a non-cognisable (NC) offence. It was only after the video went viral the next day, did the police reach out to me to register an FIR,” said Prakashdevi Bohra, the woman who was assaulted by MNS workers outside her closed shop at Kamatipura in Nagpada on 28 August.
In a conversation with The Indian Express, Bohra said that the argument had begun over MNS workers wanting to erect a bamboo pole to display a poster, welcoming visitors to the local Ganpati mandal, right outside her shop.
A video of the incident, in which MNS workers can be seen assaulting and pushing Bohra, had gone viral on social media on Thursday. The police lodged an FIR in the case and arrested the three accused, including Vinod Argile, the deputy division chief of the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS), a party led by Raj Thackeray.
Argile was removed from the party post after he tendered an apology on Friday.