Maha shocked as MNS men abuse, push, assault woman shopkeeper

Mumbai, Sep 1 (IANS) A group of activists allegedly belonging to Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) abused, pushed and assaulted an elderly woman when she objected to their putting up a Ganeshotsav advertising banner outside her shop without her permission, here on Thursday.

Apparently irked over her blatant refusal, the MNS activists led by one Vinod Argile and others vent their ire by abusing her and then roughing her up till she fell on the footpath.

The woman -- identified as Parkash Devi, reportedly told them to "go and hang the banner outside Raj Thackeray's home" and Argile claimed she even abused them outside her medical shop.

In a video of the incident that occurred on Sunday, that went viral, the woman and the MNS activists were in a heated argument, and as she kept refusing Argile could be seen pulling her, pushing her, giving her a powerful punch in the tummy, and again shoved her as she fell on the pavement.

On Thursday, Argile contended that the woman had abused him but said he was sorry for assaulting her even as the incident sparked a political row.

Nationalist Congress Party Chief Spokesperson Mahesh Tapase slammed the MNS for the 'brutal attack' on an elderly woman and demanded that MNS President Raj Thackeray should clarify his party's stance on dignity and respect to womenfolk.

"Such an incident in broad daylight is shocking and we condemn it. The Mumbai Police should register an FIR and take action against the MNS activists involved, and Raj Thackeray should also act in the matter," demanded Tapase.

MNS south Mumbai activist Keshav Muley and others immediately washed their hands off Argile, saying that the purported video is "incomplete" and the party top brass will taken action in the matter.

Former Shiv Sena Mayor Kishori Pednekar slammed the MNS for the incident and urged Raj Thackeray to personally intervene and take action against the culprits.

Meanwhile, social media expressed outrage over how so many people mutely took photos or videos of the incident instead of stopping the political lumpens or rushing to the aid of the woman resisting them alone.

The Nagpada Police have lodged a non-cognisable offence against the MNS activists and further investigations are underway.