Maratha Reservation Protest turns violent in Chakan; innocents at the mercy of the mob- As the unrest-hit town limps back to normalcy, those caught in the midst of rioting share their stories of trauma and courage

By Prachee Kulkarni, Pune Mirror | Updated: Aug 1, 2018, 09:51 IST

A DAY AFTER THE CHAKANVIOLENCE, MIRROR FEATURES THE FACES OF THOSE AFFECTED


■ Banking on courage- Revati Muley’s manager of the Bhagini Nivedita Cooperative Bank,

Revati Muley’s phone has hardly stopped ringing since Monday. As a manager of the Bhagini Nivedita Cooperative Bank, she was at her desk when violence erupted at Chakan, and immediately had to shoulder the responsibility of making sure the all-female team of staff ers at her branch stayed safe. “Most of our employees stay in Pune,” she shared, “We come to Chakan in a hired private vehicle. We knew protests were organised in the area, but had no idea things would escalate this much. We had opened the bank earlier in the day, but then kept the shutter half closed to ensure better security. All of us didn’t have an exact update of what was happening at the highway side, but heard things were out of control for several hours. With buses getting burnt, passengers also started crowding the stand where our branch is located.” That’s when things got more dramatic. Muley narrated, “Soon, protesters stormed the stand and started pelting stones, setting the controller’s cabin on fi re. The crowd began looking for places to hide and all rushed to a fi rst fl oor shop. Meanwhile, a woman knocked on our door — through our closed-circuit television (CCTV) camera, we saw she was holding a baby and looking for a safe spot. We immediately let her in, and she waited hidden with us for two hours. Tragically, she had come to the location to hospitalise her child, but was sent back due to the bandh.” The unrest raged on unabated for quite a while. “We could see youngsters with their faces covered, pelting stones at our shutter and around the general premises. They also targeted the CCTV cameras and broke them. There was smoke coming in from the stand, suff ocating us, but we were too scared to leave. Finally, things seemed to have calmed down around 4 pm, and we decided to escape home — but then, the highway was blocked. Luckily, we found another road to Pune, and reached by late evening. Some of us were, unfortunately, threatened on the way.” This branch has an entirely female team of staff , and their families as well as the bank’s head offi ce were worried, and kept calling for updates. But on Tuesday, the branch was open and the team at work once again, and the anxious calls are still coming in. Said Muley, “We have opened shop but are keeping the shutters half down — just in case.”

■ School trip to hell- safety of the schoolchildren

A teacher from the Navodaya Vidyalaya in Bharuch, Gujarat, Naresh Pipsaraiya, has still not stopped worrying for the safety of the schoolchildren in his charge, who he is trying to travel with to Pune. Stuck in Chakan thanks to the unrest, attempts to reach Pune safely with a large group were futile all of Monday night, since state transport (ST) is in shutdown mode. “Four teachers left from Gujarat with 56 students hailing from eight districts, around 10.30 pm on Sunday. We reached Chakan at 11 am on Monday, and were headed to Sangli for the cricket selections of the students to the under-17 and under-19 teams. But the protest stopped us in our tracks. A mob approached our bus, pelting stones at government buses next to us. As our bus has the registration number of another state, it threw them off , and they luckily walked past us. But, with these children under our protection, we abandoned all our belongings in the bus and ran with the kids to a safe spot. As we feared, the mob came back and vandalised our bus, as we all hid on the third fl oor of a shopping complex nearby for at least two hours. Smoke from the burning buses was everywhere, and we could not move,” he described. Finally, it was only when some locals arrived that the entire group was moved to the Jain Mandir for a bit, before managing to take the children to the Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya in Pune for the night. “We arranged for the selections to take place in Pune itself. But now, while we are trying to head back to Gujarat, the Pune depot is not allowing our alternative vehicle, a government bus, to enter the city. So we are stuck here till things cool down.”

■ Transport turns target- the story of Popat Khade, the driver of a bus from Nashik

With the Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) bearing the major brunt of the unrest on Monday, many of its staff had some unsavoury experiences. Such was also the story of Popat Khade, the driver of a bus from Nashik bus, who recapped to Mirror on Tuesday, “My bus fi rst halted due to a traffi c jam, and another bus was blocking our view. Before I could realise it, the mob has started pelting stones at us. I immediately instructed our passengers to get down, and they rushed to a nearby building. Meanwhile, the rioters had poured diesel on the bus and set it on fi re, even as I was pleading with them to spare it. All my belongings went up in fl ames.” Scared, hungry and exhausted, Khade then managed to leave that night for Rajgurunagar on a truck, and stayed at a rest house there. “Other drivers and conductors shared their tiffi ns with me,” he said, “Now, I have come back to Chakan, and am waiting to be instructed on what has to be done next.”

■ Violence comes full circle

While public transport was the main target of the Chakan violence, law enforcement personnel were not spared either, with 10 cops injured in stone pelting. Of these was deputy superintendent of police (DySP) Ram Pathare — and this happened to occur just one day before his retirement. “I have seen many riots during my tenure,” he shared, “But this was the fi rst time cops were attacked. When I came to know the mob had turned violent, I rushed to the spot and tried to calm them down. But in no mood to listen, they threw stones at us, injuring my leg. They didn’t stop at that — they also damaged my vehicle and torched it.” Incidentally, his career began amid similar violence. “Just after I passed out from the police academy, I was unable to get a bus out of Nashik because riots had broken out there over the Ram Mandir issue. I was also posted in Nashik thereafter, and had to control this rioting as a police sub-inspector. At the time, the situation was brought under control quicker — messages spread more slowly, as people waited for the news the next day. But these days, with social media, things go viral within moments and there is often no authenticity to the information. This is why the violence was more extreme on Monday, and many of my peers were attacked. But, I am glad I could be part of calming something like this down on my last day at work. My career has started and ended in violence.”

■ Facing off with the mob

When the bus he was assigned to started from Nashik to Palus via Sangli, little did bus conductor Vivek Kulkarni know that he would be hungry till Tuesday, sleeping under the stars next to a destroyed bus, and bereft of his belongings. But that’s the state Kulkarni has been in, when he spoke to Mirror while waiting at the local police station for his turn to give a statement to cops. “On Monday morning, just as we entered Chakan, a stone hit our bus, shattering the front glass. I was shocked for a moment — but then, I came to my senses, realising there are children aboard.” Not caring for his safety, Kulkarni stepped out to bargain with a huge mob. “I requested them to stop stone pelting till our passengers got down. Luckily, they listened. Within a few minutes, we emptied the bus, leaving behind belongings. I wanted to save the bus, too, but knew that was not going to be possible. We shifted the commuters to safety at a diff erent location, then went back to fi nd our bus completely torched. All our belongings, my bag of tickets — everything was gone. The bus is my responsibility — I have sat next to it the entire night. It has been three days since I left home… I’m not sure when I will get to go back now,” he rued.