Cops who refused to register FIR turn up at Mumbai senior citizen's door

Hours after MiD DAY reported how MHB police wriggled out of filing a case of chain snatching for the Agrawal couple (‘Dear Mr CP, look how your cops treat elderly victims'), the senior citizens received not only a phone call from the authorities asking to file their complaint, but the cops showed up at their home to register the FIR.

Sushila Agrawal, whose initial request to file an FIR was turned down, was taken aback when the cops yesterday were more than willing to register her FIR and even asked her if the experience was a pleasant one. Pic/Kiran Bhalerao

"As soon as the story broke, I received a call from the senior inspector of MHB police station around 8.30 pm on Thursday and he asked us to come in immediately and file my complaint. We were surprised to see the drastic change in their attitude," said Rameshchandra Agrawal, the husband of 64-year-old Sushila Agrawal whose chain was stolen by an unidentified biker on March 24.

Citing how late it was, the Borivli couple refused to go to the police station and said they would register their complaint on Friday morning. However, they were in for a surprise when three police officials knocked on their front door at 9.30 pm. "We had told them we would come to the station the next morning. But they surprised us by turning up at our front door," added Rameshchandra.

The couple told MiD DAY that when they went to the station at 10 am on Friday, they felt like all eyes were trained on them. "We were shocked to see how humble and polite the authorities were being with us. u00a0It was a marked difference than the way they behaved when we went the first time to file our FIR," said Sushila, adding that the authorities recorded their complaint and without asking handed over a FIR copy. "The official also promised us that we would get our belongings following which a PR staff member asked us about the experience," commented Sushila.

But Sushila said that such action should have been taken by the police before reading media reports. "We have seen a different approach and I request all police officials to be calm and understand when dealing with senior citizens." When MiD DAY spoke to Sunil Paraskar, additional commissioner of police (Zone XI), he said, "We have been doing our duty sincerely and following instructions. As I have said before, if any official is found guilty, strict action will be taken against him."u00a0