Cop suspended for recording woman's statement sans female

A senior officer attached to a local police station was suspended today for not recording the statement of a complainant in a molestation case in presence of a woman police officer last month.
Besides suspension, Kapurbawdi police station duty officer S P Pawar might also have to forfeit his one-month salary for the lapse, said Thane Police PRO Sukhada Narkar in a release issued here today.
The woman had gone to the police station to lodge a complaint against her neighbour who allegedly filmed her while bathing last month.
The woman, who was accompanied by her husband, alleged male officers at the police station laughed while watching the purported video.

An enquiry was ordered into the matter after the BJP's women wing president Madhvi Naik met Maharashtra MoS for Home Ranjit Patil and submitted a memorandum seeking action.
"On May 30, some sections of the media reported about the misconduct of certain police officers while handling a case of an offence against a woman in Kapurbawdi police station. It was also reported that some public authorities had complained about this incident earlier and no action was taken. However, it is being clarified that no complaint or information about this incident was received by the police from any person or authority," the release stated.

A formal enquiry was conducted by a senior woman officer and a statement of the complainant was recorded.

However, the enquiry has revealed that the officials at the police station didn't laugh or passed any remarks about the video, it said.
"Though an FIR was registered promptly and the accused was arrested, there was a procedural lapse on part of the officer Pawar as instead of assigning a woman officer he recorded the statement himself," the release added.
In the wake of the incident, a monitoring cell for offences against women (MCOAW) has been opened in each zonal DCP office, which will be headed by a woman officer.