Mumbai: For head constable Daya Doiphode nobody is above the law. But the 32-year-old was in for a rude shock on November 27 when she was insulted and abused for doing her duty. As part of the election protocol, Ms Doiphode told BJP leader Shekhar Charegaonkar not park his car next to the polling booth he was about to enter. However, an enraged Mr Charegaonkar instead of abiding the law allegedly started hurling abuses and even threaten Ms Doiphode, who is attached to the Karad police station in Satara.
A video of the incident has gone viral which shows Mr Charegaonkar insulting the on-duty policewoman. Speaking to this newspaper, Ms Doiphode recounts how Mr Charegaonkar, who is the chairman of the Maharashtra State Cooperation Council, “insulted her” and refused to even heed to her orders till she said she would initiate action against him.
On November 27, Ms Doiphode was posted at Nutan Marathi School, a polling booth for the Satara municipal elections. She was to ensure that no vehicle entered within 100 metres of the booth. “I had been on duty since 6 am and around 10 am an Innova bearing the number MH 50 A 5090 entered from the gate, clearly ignoring the 100 metres rule. Before it could enter the gate, I tried to intercept the vehicle, but the driver ignored me and went ahead,” said Ms Doiphode. She then followed the vehicle which stopped right in front of the steps leading to the polling booth number 1.
“I asked the driver of the car to turn the vehicle around and park it away from the booth but the man sitting in the passenger seat stepped out and said, ‘Do you know who you are talking to? I am a minister and my vehicle has a pass to enter even the Mantralaya’.” Ms Doiphode said the man, who later identified himself as Mr Charegaonkar spoke rudely to her and even used expletives.
