Cops register offence one year after complainant dies

AURANGABAD: The police have registered a case against four people under various charges, including molestation, late on Thursday night, over a year after a complaint was lodged by a woman who is no more.
The 22-year old woman, a BTech student, had filed an application with police in December 2015 stating that she was being harassed by a youth in connivance with his family members, but no action was taken.However, in August 2016, she died due to a brain tumour in a Nashik hospital.
The lethargy on the part of police came to light when her father, Bhanudas Pandharinath Devkar (50) of Shivaji Nagar, approached the police chief, seeking to know the reason for the delay in action by police.
“After the matter was brought to my notice, directives have been issued to register an offence and probe it accordingly,” police commissioner Amitesh Kumar told TOI on Friday.
As per the complaint lodged by the woman, the youth, who was allegedly harassing her since November 2014, stayed in a house next to hers and that he was being supported by her family members.
“The suspects would even bother her parents over petty issues and, on finding her alone at home, would trouble her and also restrain her,” says the complaint.
Around the time the complainant died, the police sub-inspector, who was probing the complaint, got transferred and another officer of the rank of PSI was handed over the application, said a senior police officer.
“In August 2016, the newly-appointed investigation officer Madhukar Shinde, without knowing that the complainant had died, contacted her father, who did not show much interest in pursuing with the complaint citing that his daughter had just passed away,” said the officer.
“Only recently, the girl’s father decided to pursue the matter and met the city police chief,” said the officer.
The Pundaliknagar police post have now recorded the statement of Devkar and registered a case against the four suspects, including the youth, his younger brother and parents. The woman’s complaint was used as base for registering the fresh offence.
Other than molestation, the suspects have been booked for wrongful restraint, voluntarily causing hurt, intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace and criminal intimidation.