Often, we find netas and MLAs in India misusing their powers and breaking the laws. They misuse their power with such an audacity that it becomes difficult to think of them as lawmakers.

This is what exactly happened in Mumbai, when a Shiv Sena MLA Hemant Patil held up the Devgiri Express train for almost an hour at the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (CST) demanding that he be given a berth of his choice. More than 2,000 passengers had to face the inconvenience because of him and it also affected the schedule of other trains.

The incident happened on Wednesday night, when the MLA from Nanded and his aide refused to accept their allotted side seats 35 and 36 in the AC II tier coach and the group accompanying them kept on pulling the chain repeatedly, ensuring that the train didn’t move out of the station. The train was supposed to depart CST at 9.10 pm, but finally was able to do so at 9.57 pm. Again, it was forced to halt near Masjid station and from there, it left at 10.06 pm. However, the railway officials refused to consider Patil’s demand to provide another berth.

The altercation between the MLA and railway officials led to the delay of two other long distance trains by more than 15 minutes. Also, few local trains were delayed, causing a crowd of more than 1,000 people at the platforms.

Central Railway officers have sought for an inquiry against Patil from Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis and the speaker of Maharashtra Assembly Haribhau Bagde. However, Patil could not be reached after the incident.

The Logical Indian urges the Maharashtra government to take strict action against the Shiv Sena MLA. This sort of high-handedness cannot be tolerated.