#Bombayphile : That Dark August In The History of Mumbai Police

Mumbai Police is one of the most disciplined, professional and formidable internal security organisations in the world. There was a time when its pace of detecting crimes was compared with the Metropolitan Police of London. However, there have been a few dark pages in its glorious history. One such chapter is of the police rebellion that happened forty-one years ago.

What happened on 19 August 1982 was narrated to me by Baban Jadhav. He is one of those numbered policemen who participated in the rebellion and are still alive. Jadhav became my friend in 2003 when I was covering a proceeding at the Kurla court where few members of Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) were being produced after the organisation was banned. Jadhav was the in-charge of the security of the court premises. Recently, I met him after many years at his residence in Thane.

“They put me in jail on the occasion of the Ganpati festival. Even if I was guilty, why my family members were thrown out of our governmental accommodation? Why cases were filed against them? Dawood is such a big criminal but were his relatives punished for his crimes?...but for me, a policeman, the punishment was meted out to my family members. My daughter was just three months old. My mother was seventy years old, but they were thrown out of the house.” Jadhav’s eyes were full of rage when he recollected the events of 19 August , 1982.

During those days, the policemen had a union named “Mumbai Police Karmachari Sanghatana” of which Jadhav was a member.

“Why did that rebellion happened?” I asked Jadhav.

“Don’t call it a rebellion. It was our agitation. We wanted to do our duty respectfully, but we were being treated as slaves at the homes of IPS officers. We were asked to run errands, walk dogs and clean their utensils. Is this the job of a policeman? We were not allowed to take leave. Our salaries were very low. There was a conspiracy to snatch away our official quarters and give the land away to a builder. Because of all these reasons, we had to resort to agitation.”

The indications of the unrest in the force were visible on 15th August that year when many policemen reported to the duty displaying black ribbon on their uniform. It has been reported that out of the total strength of 22,000 cops, 9500 participated in the rebellion. On the day when rebellion broke out, there were incidents of stone-peltings at several places, motormen driving the local trains were pulled out of their cabins. As train services were disrupted, furious commuters went on rampage at various stations. The mill workers also joined the agitation of the policemen, who too were on a strike since last seven months.

Knowing that the police were on strike, criminal elements had a gala time. They fearlessly started looting. The Century Bazaar at Worli had to endure maximum damage. The worts violence happened at Worli Naka. To contain the violent mob, the army had to fire in which two mill workers and a policeman died. A youngster died in the Naigaon area. Julio Ribeiro was the police commissioner of Mumbai then. In his autobiography, he has detailed how the rebellion was dealt with. Apart from requisitioning the army, help was taken from the loyal policemen. Twenty-two leaders of the police union were arrested and ninety policemen were dismissed from the service. The police union was banned and the formation of any such union in the future was made illegal.

Although certain demands of the agitating policemen were legitimate, many leaders of the police union too went to extremes. They misbehaved with senior police officers and had scuffles with them. They indulged in indiscipline and didn’t wear the police uniform. A union leader who was a follower of Osho demanded that the colour of the police uniform must be changed from Khaki to Maroon. Most of the union leaders didn’t report to their regular duties and behaved arbitrarily. During those days, then CM A.R.Antulay used to appease union leaders like S.D.Mohite and sanctioned a space for the union’s office.

When I asked Jadhav about all these excesses, he admitted that indiscipline had happened, but such people were very few. Jadhav still believes that among all the governmental departments, the police force is the most overburdened one. There is still a need for an association of the policemen to convey their grievances to the government.

(Bombayphile is published every Sunday where Jitendra Dixit writes about the past and the present of Mumbai.)