The incident occurred when woman constable Kajal Bansode, along with her colleague boarded the BEST bus number 63 from Mahalaxmi Temple to reach their headquarter in Naigaon, Dadar
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A BEST bus driver and a conductor were arrested on Thursday morning at 8.00 am for allegedly abusing four women constables who had travelled without a ticket from Mahalaxmi temple to Naigaon, Dadar. He allegedly said that police officers like everything for free and demand freebies everywhere they go.
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The incident occurred when woman constable Kajal Bansode, along with her colleague boarded the BEST bus number 63 from Mahalaxmi Temple to reach their headquarter in Naigaon, Dadar. When the bus crossed Haji Ali, conductor Rajendra Kanduskar (52) came to the two women constables asking for their ticket, but they refused to take the ticket citing that Indian Police act gives a police officer the privilege of travelling without a ticket. But Kanduskar refused to believe their counter argument and demanded their identity card for verification to which they obliged and also insisted him to note down their name and badge number for further verification.
The conductor still refused and continued to abuse the two policewomen, who objected to his foul language. Kanduskar even accused them of getting freebies everywhere and took out his phone to click pictures of the two women constables claiming that he doesn't believe the two women to be real police officers. After seeing the altercation among the conductor and the two policewomen, the bus driver Deepak Dhanawade (34) drove to Tardeo bus depot and called the cops.
"He (the conductor) said that we police officers like everything for free and we demand freebies everywhere. When my colleague and I warned him of his abusive language, the bus driver Deepak Dhanawade (34) began threatening us of getting arrested and drove the bus to the nearby Tardeo bus depot," said Bansode.
Passengers on the bus even tried to persuade the driver and the conductor to settle the scuffle amicably. But both were not in the mood to back down and drove the bus to Tardeo bus depot, where Tardeo police began investigating the driver-conductor duo and women constables.
Senior Inspector Sanjay Surve said, "The driver and the conductor misbehaved with the two policewomen for no apparent reason. A detailed statement has registered from the two policewomen and eye-witnesses, and the conductor and driver have been arrested."
Both have been booked under IPC section 341 (wrongful restraint), 509 (insult to the modesty of women), 504 (breach of peace), 506 (Criminal intimidation) and 34 (Common intention).
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