Maharashtra MLA admits to slapping engineer after caught on camera, says it natural reaction

A video of a Maharashtra Independent woman legislator punching a young city engineer while it was broadcast in public has gone viral on social media. She also referred to him as ‘nalayak,’ or ‘useless.’

 

Geeta Jain, an MLA from Mira Bhayandar in Thane district, slapped the engineer after Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation personnel forcibly removed a home’s residents and demolished the building without giving them any prior warning. Women and children among the passengers were made to remain on the road.

 

Geeta Jain was seen in the video reprimanding a government official for demolishing the house. She then slapped the young police officer while holding his collar. Geeta Jain expressed her annoyance at the civic official’s laughter at the women who were sobbing as their home was being torn down to a local news station. She claimed that slapping him was a natural response.

 

When discussing the incident, Geeta Jain noted that only a little fraction of the house that was demolished by young civic engineers was illegal, and that its occupants promised to remove the illegal part.

 

‘The illegal construction was proving to be a hurdle for a builder and not to any government amenity or road. Still, these civic officials went there and instead of demolishing the illegal portion, they razed the entire house,’ she claimed.

 

The MLA claimed that women who opposed the demolition of their house had their hair pulled by city officials. According to Geeta Jain, the two engineers worked in collusion with the builders to demolish a private plot of land. She claimed she had no regrets about what she had done and was prepared to take whatever punishment.

 

‘I will raise this issue in the Assembly. Let him (the engineer who was slapped) file a case against me… I am ready to face it. How can one tolerate civic officials pulling down structures built on private land?’ the legislator asked.

 

Geeta Jain, an Independent who won the 2019 Assembly election, then promised her support to the Shiv Sena after Uddhav Thackeray was appointed chief minister. However, Geeta Jain is now a member of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) following Eknath Shinde’s uprising in June of last year.