Shiv Sena (UBT) Woman Leader Attacked With Ink, Manhandled During Event

Uddhav-Thackeray-led Shiv Sena's woman leader was attacked with ink and was manhandled by a group of women during a public event in Thane.

A group of women allegedly threw ink at a woman office-bearer of the Shiv Sena (UBT) and manhandled her during a programme held in Thane city of Maharashtra, police said on Saturday. The incident took place at Kalwa on Friday night, they said. The victim in the alleged incident, Ayodhya Pol, who is the social media coordinator of the Uddhav Thackeray-led party, lodged a complaint at the Kalwa police station. However, no first information report (FIR) has been registered so far in this connection, police said.

Talking to reporters on Saturday morning, Pol said she was invited to an event to mark Ahilyabai Holkar's birth anniversary celebrated recently.

"The organisers of the event had followed all protocols and the banner sent to me earlier carried the pictures of the leaders of Sena (UBT). But when I reached the venue, the banner there had photos of only the local corporator and mine," she said.

Pol said she was earlier told by the organisers that other leaders belonging to the Thackeray group, including Sushma Andhare and local MP Rajan Vichare, would attend the programme. However, none of them was present there. When she asked about it, the organisers gave evasive replies, according to her.

"When the function started and as soon as I garlanded the portraits of icons, a group of women rushed towards me, pulled my hair, slapped me and threw ink at me," she said.

She said she now feels that she was misled by the organisers to attend the event.

"I have attended several functions across the state with the leaders of Sena (UBT), but it is for the first time that something like this has happened and that too in the city that happens to be the home turf of chief minister (Eknath Shinde)," she said.

The incident has also brought to the fore the issue of women's safety, Pol added.

Police said investigation into the case was on.

(This report has been published as part of the auto-generated syndicate wire feed. Apart from the headline, no editing has been done in the copy by ABP Live.)