Subhechcha Ganguly 
The Bombay High Court intervened after a food delivery agent’s repeated attempts to file a First Information Report (FIR) with the Navi Mumbai police were ignored for six months. During the assault, the attackers allegedly used casteist slurs, and the incident was reportedly linked to an ongoing enmity from 2022. The accused—Lalchand Saroj, Jayprakash Yadav, Jayprakash Gaud, Vijay Sharma, and Pramodkumar Singh—were acquaintances of the victim, Ramsajivan Chotelal Kanojia, who is a food delivery agent and belongs to a scheduled caste.
“The five accused had humiliated the victim even in the past for belonging to lower caste and were constantly finding means to harass him, but he kept avoiding them. In June, the five accused intercepted his two-wheeler and forcefully took him in their vehicle, took him to a isolated spot and assaulted him in the most debased manner. He was kicked, hit with a belt and even with an iron rod. His legs and hands were held and one of the accused tried to strangulate him and was abused with casteist slurs,” said advocate Tushar Sonawane, who represented Kanojia.
After the incident, Kanojia allegedly made several attempts to file complaints with the Navi Mumbai Police commissionerate, but his efforts were unsuccessful. “He submitted a complaint through the web portal and also personally approached both the Rabale police station and the commissioner’s office, but no action was taken. As a result, he ultimately turned to the High Court,” said Sonawane.
