The unseemly incident of Bombay’s Parsi leaders skirmishing outside a court house has sent shock waves throughout the community and the city
On entering St George’s Hospital lobby one spied Bombay Parsi Punchayet (BPP) trustee Kersi Randeria seated with his arm in a sling and a partially bloodshot right eye giving a statement to the police.
About 15 minutes later, Hormuz Mehta, the lawyer son of the former BPP chairman Dinshaw Mehta and brother of sitting BPP trustee Viraf, was wheeled in supine on a stretcher. Both Randeria and Dinshaw alleged the other started the fracas outside the Metropolitan Magistrate court at Ballard Pier in the afternoon of September 8, 2016 following a court hearing. Both alleged the other taunted them and the wounds inflicted on each other were superficial and were being magnified to gain sympathy. Photographs appeared in the newspapers and on social media showing the injured parties.
Kersi Randeria (arm in sling) and others talking to policemen at St George’s Hospital
Hormuz Mehta on a hospital bed, Randeria with bloodshed eye and arm in a sling
Eyewitnesses gave contrary accounts depending on which side their loyalties lay. What is known is that following the hearing, as Randeria and Hormuz exited, some words were exchanged between them that led to an altercation in which Dinshaw also jumped into the fray. Hormuz had suffered a neck injury many years earlier and the tussle and subsequent fall may have aggravated it. When the fight was brought to the attention of the Magistrate, he reportedly instructed the parties to take up the matter with the police who told them to proceed to the state run Hospital.
The aftermath of the unsavory incident resulted in widespread condemnation of the parties involved. Facebook posts drew a large number of comments berating and ridiculing the behavior of their elected representatives, past and present. Parsiana’s first post about the altercation on Thursday evening drew a response of "Good grief!” by Vistasp Hodiwala while Khurshed Parakh commented "Those whom God would destroy — he first makes mad.” Behram Aga inquired tongue in cheek, "When is the next round due?”
Aware of the negative backlash, Randeria issued a public apology on September 9, noting, "It causes me great pain and embarrassment, as an individual and more importantly as a trustee of the BPP to have been dragged into this. I firmly believe that the issues of the community should remain within the boardroom and the community, just as I believe that legal issues should remain within the court room to be decided by the honorable judges and legal system. I am appalled and dismayed at our community having to face yet another embarrassment.” When the post was placed on the Parsiana Facebook page on Saturday evening it carried derision from viewers. Kersi Jal Sethna alleged, the trustees were "all wolves in sheeps’ clothing,” while another member, Nazneen Mithaiwalla, termed it "a load of humbug.”
The Mehta camp did not express any regret, and instead insisted the truth of the incident had to be first made known. Hormuz then issued a statement squarely laying the blame on Randeria and claiming the closed circuit television footage would "clarify what transpired outside the court... When I got married earlier this year, I gave a commitment to my wife that I would not embroil myself in BPP politics, especially after seeing my father toil away 21 years of his life only to get falsely maligned by a handful of vindictive individuals.”
Clockwise from top left: Dinshaw Mehta,
Muncherji Cama, Musharraf Kader and Viraf Mehta
Complaints against Dinshaw Mehta and Randeria were reportedly filed for abusing women. According to the Mumbai Mirror (MM) of September 12, "hours after the showdown on September 8, Rukhshana Delkhah approached the MRA Marg police with a complaint against Mehta. ‘While we were in the courtroom waiting for the judge to arrive, Mehta began passing several comments and used foul language,’ (alleged) Delkhah, a housewife who had been to the court in Ballard Pier to witness the proceedings in a case regarding the sale of tenancy rights of a property in Bora Bazaar by the Punchayet…
"According to Delkhah, Mehta had been instigating Randeria and all others present with him which eventually resulted in the scuffle… Mehta in a statement sent to MM, rubbished the allegations stating that he had rejected Delkhah’s application for a house on multiple occasions when he was the Punchayet chairman.
"‘She is just getting back at me. How can I pass lewd comments in a courtroom crowded with people?’ he asked and added that his sisters Anahita and Perizad too have filed a police complaint against Randeria as he made lewd remarks on them at the Hospital.”
"New material facts”
What sparked off the incident was the hearing on an application by former BPP trustee Khojeste Mistree before the 38th Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate at Ballard Pier to investigate new evidence against Dinshaw on September 8. The assistant public prosecutor, in a statement dated September 6, submitted to the court had noted, "It seems that the informant (Mistree) has made an application to the MRA Marg police station that new material facts and evidence in the form of audio and video recordings are to be submitted with regard to the investigation… The IO (investigating officer) ought to investigate the above material evidence so as to bring true report” in regard to the allegations that Musharraf Kader paid cash of Rs 25 lakhs to facilitate the transfer of tenancy in Dady House, a building in the commercial Fort area owned by the BPP. In his complaint Mistree alleged, "an amount of Rs 20 lakhs in cash was recovered from the cupboard maintained by the CEO (chief executive officer) of the BPP (the) late Mehli Colah who had played an integral part in the transaction.”
At the press conference convened by Mistree and three BPP trustees (see "The Dady House debacle,” Parsiana, August 7, 2016) when asked if the Rs 20 lakhs found in the cupboard pertained to the Dady House transaction, current BPP chairman Yazdi Desai had said, "In my opinion that 20 lakhs has nothing to do with Dady House.”
Even prior to the courtroom skirmish, the community was in doldrums following differences between the two factions of the trustees and complicated by the dispute over the legality of Muncherji Cama’s trusteeship. Cama had submitted a letter of resignation addressed to the trustees instead of the chairman on June 12, 2015. The then chairman Mehta refused to accept Cama’s resignation while four others had accepted and filed a change report with the Charity Commissioner (CC). The matter is now being prolonged before the CC.
Claiming the BPP board must function with all seven trustees, not six, Cama filed an application on August 26, 2016 seeking a stay on the working of the Punchayet. In December 2013, due to the trustees internecine quarrels the CC had placed a "status quo” order on all BPP property transactions. The stay was lifted only two years later in December 2015 after the new board of trustees requested the CC to do so. Now the specter of a halt in housing allotments is once again haunting the community. Cama has also filed an originating summons in the High Court where he has made similar prayers as in the CC.
Cama’s lawyers Vigil Juris are quoted by BPP trustee Armaity Tirandaz on her Facebook page as stating, the BPP scheme "categorically enunciates that the trust shall be administered by seven trustees. Consequently, for the purposes of execution of any instrument transferring and conveying any property of the trust, signature of all seven trustees (is) mandatory.” This notice to the trustees further declared, "It is pertinent to note that…Cama continues to sign all documents relating to court matters as a trustee of the said trust and is also the signatory of the bank accounts of the said trust till date.”
In the light of Cama’s notice, Tirandaz and Viraf stated they would not sign any housing allotment until legal opinion was sought or the courts decided on Cama’s plea. However, "Based on the assumption of majority right and might,” the majority trustees — Yazdi Desai, Randeria, Noshir Dadrawala and Zarir Bhathena — "decided to go ahead with legal documentation on housing,” alleges Tirandaz. To stop them, Tirandaz and Viraf sent a letter and later served a notice to the registrar’s office to prevent the registration of all leave and license and tenancy agreements by the BPP. "Viraf and myself had finally no option but to serve notice to the registrar’s office to ensure that the trust is not in any violation of the law,” noted Tirandaz’s clarification that was given due publicity on johbawa.com
"Now that there is no recourse of clarification available and the community Press is no longer an option for me [Randeria controls both Parsi Times (PT), which he owns, and Jam-e-Jamshed, whose management he has taken over], I will henceforth utilize my Facebook page to bring my standpoint to the community and strive to bring true transparency,” she stated.
The PT of September 3 implied there was collusion between Cama, Tirandaz and Viraf as "both sets of letters by Cama as also Tirandaz and Viraf were written on the very same day.”
With the trustees, past and present, openly warring with each other inside and outside the boardroom as well as in the print and social media, the notion of serving the community has taken a backseat, to instead, shaming it.