Mumbai:
Lack of civic sense and mob justice reared its ugly head in the city yesterday.
Three clean-up marshals affiliated to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) were mercilessly thrashed for doing their job. The victims -- Sameer Khan, Kiran Jaffer and Mohsin Khan -- had spotted two people spitting gutkha and littering the street with the wrapper near Fame cinema in Ghatkopar (East).
When Shankar Yadav and Ganin Prajapati -- both real estate agents -- were asked to cough up a fine of Rs 400 for spitting and littering the premises, they lost their temper and started assaulting the marshals. In course of the brawl, bystanders also joined the fray, and thrashed the marshals, assuming that they were chain snatchers.
Eyewitness Hiren Jha said, "I was standing outside Fame cinema when the incident took place. The man refused to pay the fine. He was fuming, and then started beating the marshals with his belt."
"We went up to the duo and asked them to pay a fine of Rs 400 each. They lost their cool and refused to pay the money. Soon, a fuming Yadav took off his belt and started hitting us. Prajapati also joined in, punching and kicking us. Soon bystanders intervened and tried to rescue us, but Yadav continued his violent ways," said Mohsin.