Traffic blocked near Vishrantwadi police station
Pune: Tensions prevailed in the Vishrantwadi-Yerawada area late on Sunday evening as over 500 people gathered in front of Vishrantwadi police station, demanding justice for a 12-year-old girl who was allegedly sexually assaulted by her neighbour earlier in Sept. Deputy commissioner of police (Zone V) Chilumula Rajnikanth told TOI , “We have already arrested a 52-year-old neighbour of the girl in the case after the girl’s mother (40) lodged a complaint with the police on Sept 22. He added, “We recorded the statement of the girl’s mother on Sept 22 and registered the FIR on the same day.
The suspect works as a conservancy staff member in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). The girl’s parents are casual workers. The complainant and suspect are merely neighbours, not relatives. However, she later started complaining about stomach pain and her mother took her to a hospital. Doctors examined her and the girl then narrated the entire incident to her mother. After recovering the medical reports of the girl, we invoked rape charges against the suspect and arrested him.”
We then explained that after receiving the medical report of the girl, we have taken the supplementary statement of the complainant and of the girl and section 65(2) (punishment for rape) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) has been invoked in the FIR.
“However, news of the arrest and enhanced sections of the law being applied did not reach the people from the slum pocket where the girl and her family reside,” said the DCP, adding, “On Sunday evening, residents started visiting the police station and demanding that more stringent sections be included in the FIR. We have also invoked provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act against the suspect.”