Bumped into this June2015 article of Mishal

By Lievanta Millar

A beat marshal in Colaba notices actor Mishal Raheja kissing his girlfriend on the cheek and confiscates his driving licence.

In yet another case of moral policing, a beat marshal attached to the Colaba Police Station allegedly confiscated the driving licence of a television actor for kissing his girlfriend on her cheek, when he had gone to drop her at her residence in Colaba on Monday night.

Though the actor, Mishal Raheja, has recorded the incident on his phone as evidence, the Colaba police refused to register a complaint against the beat marshal, despite Raheja making desperate attempts for three days.

Breach Candy resident Raheja and his girlfriend were approached by the beat marshal around 11.30 pm. "I kissed her goodbye on her cheek when a beat marshal by the name of Choudhary, in his uniform, approached me and asked for my licence," Raheja said.

The actor said that he handed over the licence to the cop, after which he asked him to accompany him to the Colaba Police Station. "I asked him why he was summoning me to the police station, and he said, 'Yeh sab yahan nahi chalega'. I started video recording what the cop was saying on my phone," Raheja said.

He recorded a 49-second video (the footage is available with Mirror). In the video, the cop is seen asking Raheja to accompany him to the police station. Raheja is overheard telling the cop that he is recording him and then asks for a reason for coming to the police station as he hadn't committed any offence.

The cop is then seen trying to grab Raheja's phone and asking him to hand the phone over, to which Raheja refuses before the cop speeds off on his bike with his licence. On Wednesday night, Raheja visited the Colaba Police Station to register a complaint against the beat marshal for theft.

"I was scared as I feared that he would misuse my licence... that he would drop it at a crime scene to frame me. The police refused to register a complaint and handed over my licence, asking me to leave," Raheja said, adding that the police also asked him to delete the video.

"Sub-inspector Shekhar Lavhe, who was on duty, kept saying that because of one cop, the reputation of the entire police station would be tarnished. I took my licence as I need it to drive to my shoots daily. I still want to register a complaint against the cop but I don't know how, as the police aren't cooperating," he said. "I submitted a complaint on the Mumbai Police website on Tuesday... that was the least I could do," he said.

A Colaba police officer said that the beat marshal had asked Raheja to report to the police station in order to write a challan. "The beat marshals don't carry the challan book, and the offenders are asked to report to the police station to complete the formalities," the officer said.

He, however, failed to answer as to why Raheja was given his licence and let go without preparing the challan, when he had reported at the police station on Wednesday. The cop also failed to answer for what offence was Raheja called to the police station.

Senior inspector Rameshwar Suple from the Colaba Police Station said, "The person should have approached me directly if he had any complaint against my officials. I would have looked into the matter and taken necessary action."