Hindustan Times ST (Mumbai) - Live
‘BMC leaks complainant’s identity to hawkers’
Resident and citizen welfare associations slammed the civic body on Twitter for revealing identity
MUMBAI: The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has been accused of leaking the mobile number and residential address of the president of residents’ association which complained against the menace of illegal hawkers operating at TPS Road number 3.
The official Twitter handle of Santacruz East Residents Association (SERA) tweeted against the hawker menace and highlighted how dangerous it is that some of them use gas cylinders on the footpath which pose threat to the citizens. Following the tweet, the identity, phone number and residential address of the president of SERA Hemal Mehta were revealed.
Mehta said following the complaint on Twitter on Thursday, a hawker came to her residence around 8pm the same day and requested her to delete the tweets. She said hawkers are also calling her to take down the tweet.
SERA and Mumbai North Central District Forum (MNCDF) took to Twitter on Friday evening slamming and accusing the BMC of leaking Mehta’s details.
“One hawker straight up came to my home after a tweet through SERA’s Twitter account. How can BMC reveal my identity? After yesterday’s visit, today I have also received 3-4 calls from hawkers asking me to delete the tweet,” said Mehta.
Following this tweet on Thursday, hawkers reached the residence of SERA president Hemal Mehta and urged her to take down this tweet. She is also being pestered with phone calls from them.
She said that hawkers were pressuring her to get the tweet deleted so BMC cannot take any action on them. “I am not going to delete any tweets. How is it that BMC gave my name and details, and asked hawkers to talk to me to get the tweet deleted?” she shared.
Coming out strongly on the intimidation by hawkers, MNCDF founder advocate Trivankumar Karnani said this incident exposes the nexus between BMC officials and hawkers. MNCDF also took to Twitter asking the BMC headquarters Twitter team and the municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal to act on it. “Disclosure of names of complainants against illegal hawkers only goes on to expose the criminal and corrupt nexus between BMC and illegal hawkers. This has become a common practice by BMC wards because their hafta bribes come to a halt giving rise to criminal conflicts and intimidation by illegal hawkers,” he said. Karnani also said that the police must intervene and not only file a complaint of criminal intimidation but also invoke externment proceedings under sections 109, 110 and 111 of Criminal Procedure Code against illegal hawkers who indulge in bribery and get protection from BMC officials.
When contacted, Swapnaja Kshirsagar, assistant municipal commissioner, H East ward said, “The SERA Twitter account is public, so I do not think it was leaked by BMC officials. If it is a resident’s association, people will know who the president is. I will still check whether any complainant’s details were leaked by the ward or not. 99% it cannot happen from BMC’s ward office.”
On the matter of BMC officials asking hawkers to get tweets deleted for them to not take any action, Kshirsagar said action will be taken by BMC even if the tweet is deleted by the original complainant.
Such disclosures expose the criminal and corrupt nexus between BMC and illegal hawkers TRIVANKUMAR KARNANI,
MUMBAI: Fredun Di’Vitre, counsel for defendant Syedna Mufaddal Saifuddin, on Friday informed the Bombay high court that the claim of the plaintiffs, Syedna Khuzaima Qutbuddin and Syedna Taher Fakhruddin, that no conferred nass was revoked during the time of the 25th Dai was due to scribal errors in the manuscripts of authoritative books.
The defence counsel clarified that Syedna Jalal, the 25th Dai, had appointed Dawood bin Qutubshah as his successor even before he became the Dai and had told the dignitaries about it. However, after receiving the news of the demise of Syedna Yusuf, the 24th Dai in Yemen, Syedna Jalal called the dignitaries and informed them that Dawood bin Ajabshah would be his successor as the 26th Dai and that Dawood bin Qutubshah would succeed him as the 27th Dai. The appointment, said Di’Vitre, was changed because the Dai had a dream in which the secluded Imam told him to appoint both Dawoods as his successors.
The bench of Justice Gautam Patel was told that plaintiff Syedna Fakhruddin, while maintaining that nass once conferred could not be changed, had said during questioning that the 25th Dai had not conferred nass as immediate successor on Dawood bin Qutubshah at all. Di’Vitre referred to the manuscripts which had cited the event and submitted that the scribes had mixed up the names Ajabshah and Qutubshah but one of the earliest manuscripts had mentioned the correct sequence, and hence the claim of the plaintiff could not be accepted.
The correct sequence, Di’Vitre reiterated, was that Syedna Jalal first appointed Qutubshah as his successor but later appointed Ajabshah as his immediate successor and told Ajabshah to appoint Qutubshah as his successor. This, D’Vitre said, proved that nass was revoked, and it was an accepted practice in the community.
However, Justice Patel noted that while weighing the evidence before the court, the latter was not expected to reconcile the contradictions in the evidence and it was for the plaintiff to disprove the evidence as it was for the defendant to submit evidence that was uncontroverted and clear.
He added that the burden of proving their respective arguments was on both parties.
The bench then sought to know whether the plaintiff had been questioned regarding the appointment of the 50th Dai by the 49th Dai, as the events were similar to those during the time of the 25th Dai.
Di’Vitre said that the plaintiff was not asked about it as they had taken the stand that after the 43rd Dai, nass was only conferred orally and there was no written nass since then.