A theatre producer’s family was on Friday assaulted by his neighbours for allegedly cooking non-vegetarian food in their house. The incident happened in an upscale housing society in suburban Dahisar in Mumbai.
The theatre producer, Govind Chavan has been staying in the 18-storey building for the last two years. On Friday, Chavan’s neighbours, most of them non-Maharashtrians, hurled eggs at his door. After the cops were called for help by Chavan’s wife Anita, the neighbours even threatened and slapped his daughter and son in front of the police personnel.
Anita said the neighbours had gathered outside their flat at 1:30 am and asked her to come out. Chavan was not at home when the incident took place.
“I did not open the door and called the police. When two policemen came, the neighbours dragged my daughter Supriya out. The women neighbours used vulgar words that I cannot even pronounce,” she said.
Chavan alleged in a complaint lodged with a local police station that his family was being harassed by the neighbours for the last six months.
“Someone threw water from a balcony on Thursday night. Neighbours suspected that we threw water, left after cleaning fish, at them. So they started abusing my wife and children. The fact is that she had not cooked fish and had not thrown anything out,” Chavan said.
“Majority of the residents are Gujaratis and Marwaris. They want me to sell my flat and relocate to some other place because we cook non-vegetarian food,” he alleged.
Under the theatre banner of Supriya Productions, Chavan has produced over nine Marathi plays in the last 15 years.
Local Shiv Sena councillor Sheetal Mhatre later launched a sit-in protest at the society’s premises demanding an arrest of the neighbours involved in the attack.
Clashes over food preferences are not new to the city of Mumbai. In previous incidents, non-veg families have even been denied accommodation in housing societies.
Picture Courtesy: DNA