Ending a 16-year-long struggle by activists led by gynecologist Dr Anahita Pandole, a double hoarding 50 m inside the Doongerwadi complex was pulled down by the Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) on October 21, 2018. The objection to the hoarding was that it was unauthorized and within a heritage precinct. A double sided hoarding at the entrance to Doongerwadi continues to stand.
Double hoarding at Doongerwadi, now dismantled
Pandole had filed a public interest litigation in 2002 in the Bombay High Court to stop the proliferation of hoardings that violate the policy guidelines of the Bombay Municipal Corporation. "Doongerwadi is a sacred place… and this kind of commercial exploitation is not acceptable… This hoarding was erected without permission and I am delighted to see it come down,” she told The Times of India (ToI) on October 22.
Chairman of the cash strapped BPP Yazdi Desai told The Hindu of October 22 that "the revenue hit (loss) is not important as the hoarding was declared illegal.” Pandole told Parsiana on November 14 that "revenue (for the BPP) is important and much needed, but not at the cost of reverence for the deceased and sensitivity for mourners.”
Desai has hauled former BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta to court over "defamatory articles” published in the Metro Junction newspaper (pictured) from the Bombay Samachar stable. Also named as respondents in the case are The Bombay Samachar Private Limited and its directors Muncherji, Meherwanji and Hormusji Cama, and editor Nilesh Dave. On October 19, 2018 the Metropolitan Magistrate P. K. Deshpande gave an order to issue the summons in response to Desai’s criminal defamation suit.
On the WAPIZ (World Alliance of Parsi Irani Zarthoshtis) page in The Free Press Journal of November 3, Desai noted that as the BPP could not file a defamation case being an institution, Desai "in his personal capacity decided enough was enough” and filed the case. Who would bear the cost of the litigation was not clear.
According to Desai, Mehta has spread "false and derogatory information” about him after Desai accused Mehta of misappropriating trust funds in 2014. "Due to such defamatory statements made, my reputation in the eyes of family, colleagues, well-wishers and the Parsi community has been lowered and suffered tremendously,” Desai told the mid-day on October 27, 2018. The chairman’s wife Anahita told the newspaper that "Initially we tried to ignore it. But it became a continuous problem with defamatory accusations made week after week.”