Thousands of migrants defy lockdown to protest at Mumbai's Bandra station

Mumbai: More than 1,000 migrant workers, most of them from Bihar, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, gathered near Bandra railway station here on Tuesday afternoon.

They were demanding that the state government make transport arrangements so that they can go back to their native towns and villages.

An FIR has been registered against a television journalist over his report that trains would restart, which may have prompted gathering of migrants in suburban Bandra on Tuesday, a police official said.

The accused, Rahul Kulkarni, based in Osmanabad district of Maharashtra, has been detained and police are in the process of bringing him to Mumbai, he said.

In a recent news report, Kulkarni said Jan Sadharan special trains would resume for people stranded due to the lockdown, he said.

He has been booked under IPC Sections 188 (disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant and 269, 270 (negligent, malignant act likely to spread infection of disease dangerous to life), 117 (abetting commission of offence by public), the official said.