MUMBAI: On October 5, The Times of India reported a quarrel that took place on the first day of the Bombay Parsi Punchayet elections. The daughter
of Khojeste Mistree, who is one of the candidates, was attempting to film a fight that had broken out between two rival groups when she was allegedly roughly pulled off the chair she was standing on by Zarir Jehangirji. Her mother Phiroza Punthakey Mistree, who along with her husband support one of the groups, World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthostis (WAPIZ), accused Jehangirji of manhandling her daughter and told TOI that she had filed a complaint against him at the Gamdevi police station.
Denying this charge, Jehangirji, a supporter of Adult Franchise for Progress (AFP), says that the girl was standing on one of the chairs that was barricading the polling booth. A large crowd had gathered and she was in danger of being jostled off the chair. I said Please get down, he says. She got down. When she realised I was from the opposite camp, she started to scream.
Jehangirji added that he had not received any summons from the police. The duty officer at the Gamdevi police station confirmed to TOI that no complaint had been lodged against him.
As a result of these allegations, Jehangirji says his reputation has been ruined. Members of the rival group, he says, have been humiliating him in Parsi colonies by shouting insults on loudspeakers. He says passers-by in Dadar Parsi Colony where he lives have been heckling his children with taunts such as son of a rapist father. Theyre absolutely traumatised, says Jehangirji, a human resources consultant.
Character is very precious and very difficult to build. Mentally I am a wreck.
Original article here
