VADODARA: Till about one-and-half years
back, residents of Manan Society in Panigate
used to stay together peacefully. But, their
act of emulating characters of a popular
television serial 'Taarak Mehta ka Oolta
Chashma' landed them in trouble.
So much so that some of the families even
approached the police to sort out the
differences. The incident left senior police
officials amused as it was a first of its kind
case they were dealing with.
Police said about 12 families of the colony
decided to meet regularly, party together and
poke fun at each other like the characters of
the television soap did. "They all started
meeting on weekends and spending time with
each other. Also, they watched the soap
together and visited each other's home
regularly. All was well in the beginning as the
families were enjoying the gatherings," said a
police official.
"But, soon members of the families started
making nasty comments about women of
other families. In the soap, one of the
characters Jethalal is shown to be having
distinct liking for Babita, wife of his
neighbour. Trouble started when some of the
neighbours started comparing a resident with
Jethalal and started passing comments that
he was after a neighbour's wife," the official
added.
Soon, disputes surfaced among these
families belonging to Gujarati and
Maharashtrian communities. A couple of
families stopped attending the get-togethers
and soon the bonhomie vanished.
"But, the gossips and remarks on each
other's families continued. One of the
families approached the police and
complained of harassment by their
neighbours. When we investigated the whole
matter, we learnt that the television soap
was the root cause behind the incident. The
matter, though, has been settled amicably
and no FIR has been registered," a senior
police official added.
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