Mumbai: Two cops, auto driver booked for rape, assault under Pocso Act – Times of India

MUMBAI: Police on Monday booked two constables and a auto-rickshaw driver on charges of rape, house-trespassing and robbery, and under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act after the victim brought her complaint to the notice of Bombay high court. Police sources claimed it was a frame-up.
This is second case of personnel from that police station being booked on charges of rape within two months. In March, sub-inspector Yusuf Shaikh was booked for rape, unnatural sex and assault, on complaints of his second wife. Shaikh was suspended.
The victim, through lawyers, told HC she had been running around since January but police were not addressing her complaint of rape and molestation of her 11-year-old daughter. HC had pulled up police, after which, late on Sunday night police registered her complaint. On Monday, police told a division bench of Justices Amjad Sayed and Abhay Ahuja they had registered an FIR and started investigations.
Constables Shishupal Jagdhane and S Gavhane, and auto driver Ghure have been named.
Police registered a case and transferred it to Navghar police for free and fair investigations. A special investigating team (SIT) headed by deputy commissioner of police (zone VII) Prashant Kadam, and two female officers and four other policemen was constituted.
The complaint stated that on January 14, police and the driver barged into the victim’s house under the pretext of investigating a human-trafficking racket and assaulted the woman. The victim complained that the racket was being run by a woman in connivance with some cops. The victim claimed police hit her in her stomach, which resulted in a miscarriage. She said they also molested her daughter in front of her.
Police claimed that at the time stated in the complaint, Jagdhane was in UP to arrest a criminal, while Gavhane was at the police station. “Prima facie, it is a frame-up but due to a technicality we had to register an FIR. SIT will unearth the truth,’’ said an official.
(The victim’s identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)