HC asks police to provide protection after illegal hawkers stop homeless shelter work in Dadar

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court on Tuesday directed the Shivaji Park police to provide protection for the ongoing construction of the a shelter for homeless people in Dadar after it was stopped by illegal hawkers.

A division bench of justice MS Sonak and justice Kamal Khata stepped in after the construction work undertaken by Shiv Sneh Samajik Pratisthan, a non-governmental organisation, had to be stopped after the hawkers assaulted the representatives of the charitable body and labourers employed by them.

The Pratisthan then approached the high court when the Shivaji Park police refused to provide police protection. The protection, the NGO claimed, was denied even after civic officials requested the police officials concerned.

According to advocate Madhav V Thorat, representing the NGO, after coming across a news report about Supreme Court directives to municipal corporations across the country to set up night shelters for homeless people, the NGO conducted a survey and approached the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) with a proposal to construct, operate and maintain a free-of-cost shelter for homeless people in Dadar.

As the Apex Court order mandated the BMC to set up shelters, the civic body accepted the proposal from the NGO and on January 15, 2024, issued a work order to enable the petitioner body to start work under the Keshavsut flyover near the flower market in Dadar West.

However, Thorat said, that when the representatives of the NGO went to the site along with labourers, illegal hawkers abused and assaulted them, forcing them to stop the work. He said the NGO thereafter approached the Shivaji Park police and even the civic officials requested the police officials to provide police protection, but the request did not yield any results.

Before the court, the police, however, took a stand that they were unable to provide police force because of the Lok Sabha elections and assured the court that the necessary police force would be deployed at the site on payment of fees for the police protection.