Claiming that a foul odour emanates from the centre and the animals create a mess in the neighbourhood, they had verbally abused the employees earlier as well
Aslam Shaikh assaults the woman, manager of an animal shelter home at Khar. (screenshots)
The Khar police have charged two brothers for thrashing and outraging the modesty of a 25-year-old woman, who is the manager at a shelter home for dogs and cats in Khar.
Claiming that a foul odour emanates from the centre and the animals create a mess in the neighbourhood, they had verbally abused the employees earlier as well. The staffers
had in the past filed two non-cognisable offences against them.
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On Thursday afternoon, Aslam Shaikh approached the employees at the Youth Organisation in Defence of Animals (YODA) over the same issue and started arguing with them. The incident was recorded on a CCTV camera.
"Aslam came near the gate of the shelter home and started abusing our staff members. He started banging on the gate while abusing us. So I opened the gate to confront him but he first pushed me back, touching me inappropriately. He then pulled me by my collar, pushed me to the ground and thrashed me repeatedly. He even tried to unbutton my shirt but my colleagues rescued me," the woman told mid-day.
Aslam's brother arrived a few minutes later as the woman's co-workers were trying to rescue her. After pulling Aslam off, Altaf started verbally abusing the woman even as she called the police control room. A team from Khar police station rushed to the spot at took Altaf into custody, but Aslam had fled by then.
The Khar police have booked the duo under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) and 34 (common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.
The woman alleged that the brothers have warned her against coming to the locality again.
Pooja Sakpal, a trustee of the YODA, told mid-day, "We work for animals and we have all the permissions for the work that we do. This attack is not just on us, but on the whole community of social workers who care for animals." At present, there are 26 dogs and 20 cats at YODA.
YODA's advocate Siddharth Chandrashekhar said, "This is not just a serious offence against a woman but against the society too. We shall ensure the perpetrators are prosecuted and sentenced to jail."
Nandita Sehgal from Thane's Society for Prevention of Cruelty to Animals also said the attack was against women and humanity.
"Here in Thane, we, too, are harassed. Many complaints have been made against us even though we follow all the rules."
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