Vendor Video Row: College Girl Accuses Mumbai BJP Chief of Outraging her Modesty
Daijiworld Media Network - Mumbai
Mumbai, May 6 (with IANS inputs): Around mid-April, Facebook and other social networking sites were abuzz with a video showing a chaat vendor in Naupada's Bhaskar Colony urinating into a utensil with which he used to serve his customers.
Less than a month later, the girl who shot the video, 19-year-old college student Ankita Rane, has accused a BJP chief of outraging her modesty in a public speech, according to a report carried by The Times of India (TOI) on Friday May 6.
Ankita Rane BJP chief Raj Purohit
The video had created quite a storm, leading to the arrest of the guilty vendor, followed by smashing and bashing up of other vendors of street food in the city. It jolted the health department from its slumber, and gave a rude shock to the millions of street food lovers in the city. However, the vendor was let off with a fine of Rs 1,200 and a warning.
Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam held a hygiene camp for street food vendors after the incident.
The Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) went on a rampage attacking north Indians who had paani puri and bhelpuri stalls in Mumbai and Thane. Over 300 stalls were vandalized, reports TOI, in protest against the guilty vendor.
Now, Ankita Rane has lodged a complaint against BJP Mumbai unit chief Raj Purohit for allegedly outraging her modesty by making remarks against her in a public address at protest rally by the Azad Hawkers' Union last week.
The complaint was registered in the presence of MNS legislator Bala Nandgaonkar.
According to reports, Purohit had questioned the authenticity of the sting operation and had asked why Ankita was spying on "an old, sick man" urinating.
"Go and see, even the women in the redlight areas would not do such a thing," Purohit said in a public meeting last week in Mumbai, questioning Ankita's motives.
However, Purohit also called it a conspiracy against him. "Since the civic elections are round the corner, it's a conspiracy against the BJP and me, just to create news. My party and I respect women. If I have hurt a woman or some women, I feel sorry for it," Purohit told TOI.
However, he did admit that he felt it was 'improper' for a woman to photograph a man urinating, and said that one man's guilt cannot be applied to others and it would be wrong to paint all the other vendors with the same brush.
"If a police inspector, the late Arun Borude, had raped a 15-year-old girl, the entire force cannot be held responsible for it," he said.
He condemned the attacks on the stall vendors by the MNS, and tendered an oral apology to Ankita Rane and also promised to tender a written one after a couple of days since he was out of Mumbai.