We all have heard about the red pill and blue pill content - choosing between working to make this country better or taking a way out and moving around. Every time we see someone take a harsher way around, take the “red pill,” this society has gone ahead to show what exactly could happen to them.
On June 9th, a 70–76-year-old man, Saroj Dastur, had seen an app-based cab driver spitting in Thane, near Jupiter Hospital, and objected to the same, which led to a viral assault case, causing the victim to suffer a fractured leg.
The confrontation began as a verbal argument, which quickly escalated into physical attacks. Some accounts had even come out to say that the driver had picked up a stone and tried to strike the elderly man again.
Saroj Dastur is not a statistic. He is someone's husband, someone's father — a man who simply believed that asking for basic decency was still allowed in this country.
When our country’s values, especially in respect of the elderly, face such issues, how will we ever improve? When a request as simple as not to spit on a public road can leave a senior citizen on a hospital bed. How will this country protect its citizens? The elderly. The children. Women. No one can walk out of their homes and ever really feel safe enough.
What are the people of this country doing?
Watching an old man getting attacked? Using their phones to record? Not protecting their elderly? Using this incident as a politically charged movement?
Even after the wife had repeatedly asked Nishant Dar Shukla not to hit Saroj, he continued attacking him. Even after a bunch of young men had pulled Nishant away, he kept verbally abusing them, using foul language and stating “age ka lihaz kar raha hu” and “mai nahi bol raha hu inko”.
Is this the respect people are left with for the elderly now? Is this the respect we are supposed to normalise? I want you, the reader, to wonder why our country has reached a stage where no one interferes till someone has a fractured leg. Why do people committing these crimes feel like they can do it without anyone stopping them?
"Yeh Log Aate Kahan Se Hain, English Ki Aulaad,” said Nishant Dar Shukla.
Has basic decency become a foreign concept in our country? We talk so much about our country being just as good as any other whenever someone criticises it, yet we cannot even stop ourselves from spitting in public.
Every day, we see a different example of something we have normalised in our society, which leads to enormous harm. Wanting to fit in a group that only ever reflects negatively on their surroundings isn’t just a need to fit in; it is the stepping stone for those people to be more comfortable, causing harm, and you to become a part of the problem.
Nishant Dar Shukla did not snap in isolation. He spat in public because he had likely done it before, unchallenged. He picked up a stone because he calculated, correctly, that no one would stop him. That confidence doesn't come from nowhere — it comes from a society that has repeatedly looked away, normalised small indecencies, and taught people like him that there are no consequences.
It doesn’t just end here. Even a fractured leg can be turned into a political opportunity.
We see an unusual hands-on involvement from both the local parties of Mumbai – Shiv Sena and Maharashtra Navnirman Sena. Shortly after the video spread, senior state leaders pushed police for strict action and a serious charge of attempted murder, while Shiv Sena workers helped locate Nishant Dar Shukla and bring him to the police. The other party also cooperated on the case, publicly framing it as a matter of justice rather than rivalry.
While some people were praising the fast response and the seriousness of the police action, and welcoming the rare cooperation between political rivals, others felt optics drove the reaction after the video went viral. Some even go so far as to criticise the involvement of party workers in tracking down the accused, stating that it promotes a sense of vigilante behaviour rather than a proper law-and-order issue.
Thus, the question lingers: was the political involvement just a public stunt, or was it an actual seriousness about civic behaviour?
If the political parties were actually that serious about reinforcing proper behaviour in society, why was it only shown in this case? What was it about this case that led to not just rhetorical support from tweets on X, but instead hands-on involvement?
So, I ask all of you something.
Do good manners lead to nothing but a hospital bed – or is there still a reason to believe otherwise?
Does “help” purely come out of the need to bring about a change in society and restore civic understanding of things, or has it turned into a way for political parties to gain people’s attention and trust to remain in power? Do we accept the risk of ending up in a hospital bed and speak up about the things that need to change in the world, or do we stay quiet, even pack up our bags and leave for a different country, in the process losing ours?
References:
- Ghosh, D. (2026, June 11). Reprimanded for spitting, cab driver assaults senior citizen in Thane; held after CM's intervention. ThePrint. https://theprint.in
- Parsi Khabar. (2026, June 11). Community condemns assault on 70-year-old Sarosh Dastur for objecting to public spitting. Parsi Khabar. https://parsikhabar.net
- The Swipe Up. (2026, June 10). Video: An elderly man is severely assaulted by a car driver after he begs him not to spit on the road. The Swipe Up. https://www.theswipeup.com
- Dailyhunt. (2026, June 11). Thane cab driver arrested for assaulting senior citizen after spitting dispute near mall. Dailyhunt. https://m.dailyhunt.in