'Jailed' for relieving himself

Senior citizen is trapped inside public toilet for 20 minutes after someone locks the metal gate while he is relieving himself

This is a story that's going to have you keep one eye on the door each time you decide to relieve yourself at a public toilet. On Friday at 6.30 pm, 60 year-old Thane resident NC Shinde was on his way to Ghatkopar when he stopped by at a public toilet at Vikhroli station to relieve himself.


Sixty year-old NC Shinde was locked up for close to 20 minutes in a
public toilet at Vikhroli station on Friday evening. The lock had to be
eventually broken to let Shinde out. pics/shrikant khuperkar

When he was done, he tried opening the metal gate door and found that it had been locked. He shouted out to pedestrians, asking for help.

Curious onlookers gathered around the toilet but were able to do little except watch a caged Shinde, since the gate had been locked and the caretaker was nowhere on the scene.

They tried breaking the lock using stones lying nearby, but failed.

On hearing Shinde's cries, Assistant Station Master Vinod Kumar arrived on the scene. He called a bunch of gangmen working nearby since they had tools that could help free Shinde.

Shinde was finally rescuedu00a0 after 20 minutes when they broke open the lock using a metal rod.

A shaken up Shinde said, "Thank God the incident occurred in the evening, and people were around. It it had occurred late at night, I would've been stuck inside forever."

Station master IS Khan apologised to Shinde and said it could have been the toilet contractor who locked him in.