Dharavi mosque protest: Three held for damage to public property, illegal assembly

MUMBAI: Police on Sunday arrested three persons for allegedly damaging public property and blocking a road, a day after locals protested to stop BMC from razing the ‘illegal’ portion of a mosque at Dharavi here, an official said.

Those arrested allegedly hurled stones at a vehicle of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) and damaged its windshield, said the official from Dharavi police station.

The FIR has been registered against them under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Maharashtra Police Act, Prevention of Damage to Public Property Act, and sections of the Criminal Law Amendment Act.

Tension prevailed in the Dharavi slum colony on Saturday morning after hundreds of residents blocked 90 Feet Road to oppose the BMC’s plan to demolish an alleged illegal portion of a mosque, officials had said earlier.

Some residents stopped civic officials from entering the lane where the mosque is located and soon hundreds of people assembled outside the Dharavi police station and squatted on the road.

As the situation became tense, trustees of the mosque held talks with civic officials. They submitted a written request to the BMC's deputy commissioner and assistant commissioner of the G north division seeking four to five days to remove the encroached portion.

During the protest, some individuals allegedly pelted stones at a BMC vehicle, breaking its front glass, an official said. Dharavi, a densely-populated colony, is considered the largest slum sprawl in the country.

Additional police personnel were deployed in the area to prevent any untoward incident, a police official had said.