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Cop punched me, saying all you Japanese are the same: Penny Li

Twenty one-year-old Penny Li had to pay heavily for how she looks.

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1. Constable Vijay Shirke stops Penny Li in Juhu as she returns home from work 2. He punches Penny on her nose as she tries to stop him from clicking her pics. Penny starts bleeding 3. A sr inspector comes to the spot. He finds Penny’s pics in the photo gallery of Shirke’s mobile phone4. Shirke is taken to the Juhu police station. Penny’s parents and two witnesses also join
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Twenty one-year-old Penny Li had to pay heavily for how she looks.

On February 10, the Oshiwara resident was punched on her nose by a cop, calling her a Japanese. Ten days later, on Friday, police commissioner Rakesh Maria intervened and suspended the cop.

The event management executive was going back home from work like every other day. But that Tuesday, a constable stopped her for riding a two-wheeler without wearing helmet. As she stopped, he asked for her licence.

When Penny presented a photocopy, he said that was not enough and demanded the original. Penny tried to convince the cop that, for reasons of safety, she always carried a photocopy.

Constable Vijay Kashinath Shirke, however, was in no mood to listen and a heated exchange started between the two. Soon, Shirke started hurling abuses at Penny.

"All you Japanese are the same," he said. Penny stayed calm thinking it will pass.

Penny's father is a Chinese descendant, while her mother is a Marwari.

"After that, he started making calls and warned me to watch out. I told him I am not running away. He then started clicking pictures of my vehicle," said Penny.

So far, so good. What Shirke did next was the nasty twist in the tale. After taking her two-wheeler's picture, he turned to Penny to click her pictures.

"It did not seem right to me that he should be clicking me without my consent. I tried to grab his phone and it fell on the ground. In vengeance, he punched me twice and I yelled in pain," she says.

The punches on her nose left Penny bleeding profusely. By this time, a motley crowd that had gathered at the scene was growing thicker. Fearing trouble, Shirke's colleagues, who were watching from afar, fled. Shirke also tried to escape, but the crowd overpowered him.

Eventually, a senior inspector came to the spot and inquired about the incident. As Penny was narrating the events, Shirke denied he had clicked her picture. The senior inspector checked the cop's photo gallery on the phone and found a blurred picture of Li.

Shirke was taken to the Juhu police station. By this time, Li had informed her parents and they too reached the spot. Two witnesses vouched to stand by her. Penny, along with her family and the witnesses, followed the police vehicle.

At the police station, they were asked irrelevant questions and were ridiculed. "They asked my mother to forget about the incident and gave an assurance that Shirke would apologise. When they found that we won't budge, Pandit Thakare, Inspector of crime department, Juhu, said they have already transferred Shirke. But no complaint was recorded," says Penny.

"Later, a non-cognizable complaint was taken down, in which my statement was manipulated completely. This angered me even further. My family backed me and we were not willing to let him get away with it," she said.

Next day, on Wednesday, Penny went to meet Commissioner of Police Rakesh Maria and received an appointment for Friday.

"It was on Friday, for the first time, I was heard out and was allowed to narrate the entire incident without being manipulated or interrupted. After this, Maria sir rang up the witnesses and he was told that NC complaint had a false statement written. Shirke was immediately suspended. Towards the end, it all fell in place," Penny is relieved.

Rakesh Maria could not be reached for comments despite repeated attempts.

"While one in the fraternity is like Shirke, another is like Maria," Penny's mom, too, is finally relieved.
 

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