Don't cop out of protecting your own kind: Police kids

The children will restore their parents dignity Taking up the fight against the harassment of lower rung police personnel and the lack of proper amenities for them over 1000 students have joined hands to form the Maharashtra Police Boys SanghathanaSiddhant Bagul right a 21yearold BPharm student and member of the group with constable Pramod Patils wife Yashashree and their fouryearold daughter who have been on a dharna at Azad Maidan since Wednesday demanding an end to harassment within the police ranks PicBipin KokateThe group is the brainchild of Rahul Dubale 29 from Beed who was spurred into action by the death of his father allegedly at the hands of goons of a political bigwigThe Maharashtra Police Boys Sanghathana formed by Rahul Dubale left has taken up the cudgels on behalf of harried and harassed police personnelDubale a science graduate said his father an ASI was assaulted when he tried to close down an illegal liquor shop One night a politically influential person and his goons attacked him My father was admitted to the civil hospital in a critical condition Initially no action was taken by the police Four days after the attack my father succumbed to the injuries Only after I pursued the case were the accused arrested The case is pending in courtDetermined to end such browbeating and harassment Dubale started making the rounds of police quarters to ask sons of police personnel to come together and form an organisation to fight for their parents rights The Maharashtra and the Mumbai police cannot form any group or union of their ownThe students circulated messages on WhatsApp and found kindred spirits in Mumbai Thane KalyanDombivali Pune Nashik Aurangabad Ahmednagar and SangliThe group had recently taken to the streets when a 29yearold woman constable from Thane was assaulted and abused by a Shiv Sena leader It also protested the alleged attack by a political leader and the subsequent harassment of police constable Satish Sathe in Beed driving him to commit suicideIt has now put its weight behind the indefinite hunger strike of constable Pramod Patils wife Yashashree and their fouryearold daughter who have been on a dharna at Azad Maidan since Wednesday demanding an end to harassment within the police ranksSiddhant Bagul a 21yearold BPharm student and member of the group who went straight to Azad Maidan after finishing his examination on Friday pointed out the dismal conditions in which lower rank police personnel live The quarters are a mess they can collapse any time The salaries are too low for a 16hour duty We want the working schedule to be fixed at 8 hoursMangesh Bhusare a resident of Ulhasnagar and BSc IT student explained that women personnel suffer due to lack of separate toilets for themEngineering student Prakash Sawant of Pune said the organisation has no plan of taking the law into its hands We will put forth our demands with peaceful protests We want more and more people to join usThe students also want to change the negative image of the police among the publicThe groups registration process as an organisation is underway said Dubale