Women's Commission put off by police handling sensitive cases

Members of the Maharashtra State Commission for Women who visited Nallasopara in Vasai for an on-the-spot study of recent incidents of atrocities on teenage girls were put off by the manner in which the local police handled the delicate issue.
Talking to PTI here today after the visit, Commission member Chitra Wagh said that the manner in which the police acted irresponsibly was simply unpardonable.
She said that she was shocked when they learnt that police official D D Landge used crude language and slang while talking to the minor girl who had gone to the police station along with her grandmother to lodge the complaint.

A visibly annoyed Wagh said that none of the guidelines laid down while handling complaints by women were followed in any of the four cases of rape on minor girls which took place between November and mid-December this year, she said.
She visited the residence of a 12-year-old girl who was sexually abused by a gang.
The girl narrated the horrifying incident to her, she said, adding that instead of giving courage to her as well as her grandmother, the police official yelled a them and they were made to sit at the police station from 10.30 pm at night to the next morning 7 am, with no action.

For video recording their statement, the officer asked for "expenses" from the rape complainants, Wagh was told.

Detention of women at the police station at night without the presence of any female police officer itself is a serious matter, she pointed out.
Wagh said that senior police inspector Ravindra Badguzar denied all allegations, when asked about it and said that a departmental enquiry had been ordered.
Wagh said that she would submit her report to the Commission Chairperson and demanded that deterrant action be taken against the erring police officer.