Bharat bandh: train held up at Kanjurmarg, 52 arrested

22 slow locals cancelled; 30-minute delay on Central Line in morning peak hours

Refusing to budge: Protesters blocking the tracks as part of the Bharat bandh against the CAA and the NRC, at Kanjurmarg station on Wednesday.

Nearly 60 people held up a local train at Kanjurmarg station for around 15 minutes on Wednesday as part of the Bharat bandh declared by the Bahujan Kranti Morcha against the Citizenship Amendment Act and the National Register of Citizens. Around 52 people, including 13 women, participating in the rail roko were arrested.

According to Government Railway Police (GRP) officials, the protesters climbed down on the tracks around 8 a.m. and detained a slow local bound for Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus. Angry commuters who were stuck at Kanjurmarg clashed with the protesters. The agitators raised slogans and waved the national flag.

The GRP arrested the protesters and charged them under sections pertaining to unlawful assembly and wrongful restraint of the Indian Penal Code and Section 147(a) (obstructing the running of a train) of the Indian Railways Act.

Handcarts were off the road at Bhendi Bazaar during Bharat bandh on Wednesday.

Officials from the Railway Protection Force (RPF) said they sent reinforcements from Ghatkopar station to manage the protesters. “The agitators had hidden their flags while entering the stations and around 20 of them had come to Kanjurmarg by train. We had deployed additional manpower at Thane station in anticipation of a similar incident,” an RPF official said.

Nearly 22 slow services had to be cancelled due to the rail roko and trains on the Central Line in the morning peak hours ran nearly 30 minutes late. The rail roko was the only major law and order incident during the bandh in the city.

Police officials said there was a minor incident of protesters not allowing autorickshaws on the east side of Bandra station. Mumbai Police spokesperson, DCP Pranay Ashok, said all police stations across the city had deployed additional personnel but there was no law and order incident reported anywhere.

In Palghar, protesters tried to block the Mumbai-Ahmedabad highway near Vasai. In Thane district, impact of the shutdown call was felt mainly in Bhiwandi, Mumbra and Ulhasnagar.

Shops and offices remained closed in Muslim-dominated areas in Dongri, Byculla, Nagpada, Mahim, Bandra-Behrampada, Kurla Pipe Road, Kasaiwada, Andheri, Jogeshwari, Malad-Malwani and Vikhroli in Mumbai city, the police said.

( With PTI inputs )