Assault on policeman: Spotlight on Council Dy Chairman's role

The "initiative" of Legislative Council Deputy Chairman Vasant Davkhare summoning policeman Sachin Suryavanshi to Vidhan Bhavan, where he was thrashed by legislators, has come under scanner with some ministers questioning Davkhare's decision.
"Kshitij Thakur, who had lodged a complaint about the rude behaviour of the policeman on the Sea Link, is a member of the Assembly. He should have approached Assembly Speaker Dilip Walse Patil or Davkhare should have taken him to the Speaker's office. It was none of his business to direct the Worli police to ask the policeman to come to his office in Vidhan Bhavan," a senior minister told PTI.

Another senior minister, who expressed amazement over Davkhare's decision to summon an officer in connection with an issue concerning a member of another House, said the proper way for Davkhare would have been to ask Thakur to inform the Speaker about the policeman's alleged rude behaviour.
"Had Davkhare not called the police officer to his cabin in Vidhan Bhavan, yesterday's shameful incident could have been averted," the Minister, who belongs to Davkhare's NCP, said.
A Vidhan Bhavan official recalled that NCP leader Sharad Pawar, who yesterday issued a statement condemning the assault on the policeman, had courted controversy while he was in the Congress, for giving tickets to Kshitij's father Hitendra Thakur for the Assembly elections.

Former chief minister late Sudhakar Naik had even alleged that Pawar was responsible for giving tickets to "criminal elements", he said.