5 girls beat observation home attendant, held

PUNE: The Deccan Gymkhana police on Wednesday arrested five girls and detained two minor girls for allegedly thrashing a female ward attendant of the Mahila Seva Mandal, an observation home at Karve road.
The girls had severely thrashed the attendant, Anis Inamdar, as she had prevented them from escaping from the observation home.
The arrested include Ashwini Shankar Shilimkar (19), Sonali Ankush Lavande (18), Chandani Abdul Hamid Khan (18), Priyanka Dashrath Khirade (18) and Salma Abdul Gani Khatri (26).The minors girls, who are in the age group of 16 and 17, have been detained at a remand home in Nana Peth after obtaining an order from the juvenile court in Shivajinagar.
Sub inspector Anjali Khare, who is investigating the case, said on Thursday that the girls had planned to escape from the observation home as they were unable to cope with its strict schedule.
The girls had severely thrashed Inamdar and even flung chilli powder on her face after she prevented them from escaping. But the girls fled to their rooms after the superintendent Pratibha Shreeyal rushed to the spot, said Khare.
According to Khare, most of the girls, who have been kept at the home for rehabilitation, are either orphans or those who have fled from their homes. And in several cases, the parents have disowned these girls.
The girls, who have been staying in the observation home since six months to three years, hail from various parts of the state and Jharkhand.
The police have arrested the girls on charges of rioting and causing grievous hurt under sections 143,147,149 and 323 of the Indian Penal Code and also seized the chilli-powder packet, Khare added.
When TOI sought the comments of superintendent Pratibha Shreeyal, she said that she will interact with the girls and ask them to maintain discipline to avert similar incidents in future.
The girls' lawyer S P Jadhav said their clients were remanded to magisterial custody and were released on bail on furnishing a personal bond of Rs 5,000 each. Since the girls are from a poor economical background and were unable to fulfil the bail conditions, they were sent to the women's jail in Yerawada.