HC refuses to lift ban on Victorias

The Bombay high court on Monday refused to vacate its 2015 order banning horsedrawn carriages, popularly known as ‘Victorias’, from plying in the city.

A division bench of Justice AS Oka and Justice AK Menon was hearing a review petition filed by Victoria owners requesting the high court to lift the ban.

In June 2015, the high court had directed the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) to completely ban the horsedrawn carriages, declaring them as “illegal and violative of the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act.”

A 50-year-old fake woman doctor who was arrested on Friday was about to open a new hospital in Dombivli, said the police. Anita Popat, the fake doctor, had many aliases. She had recently bought a 1,200-squaremetre plot in Dombivli to build the hospital.

On Friday, the police raided Sai Baba Nursing home at Manpada in Dombivli after a complaint that the doctor was running the hospital without a licence.

A police source said, “We suspect that the woman has performed more than 12 abortions by charging a high price. We are try ing to get the details.”

On Sunday, the police arrested her husband, Mohammed Sahil Kashmiri, 34, who used to help her run the racket.

A police officer from Thane crime branch (unit 1) said, “Anita is a Class 7 dropout and was work ing as a nurse in Mumbai. Later she quit her job to open a hospita at Govandi in Mumbai. In 2014, a woman died after she allegedly gave her a wrong injection. She shifted to Dombivli after that.”

The officer added that she has confessed to the crime. She has obtained fake educational certifi cates.