The Bombay high court on Thursday directed the state government to respond to an application filed by an alleged gang-rape survivor against assistant commissioner of police, Praful Bhosale, for allegedly behaving in an inappropriate manner when she had gone to lodge a complaint with the crime branch in August.
A division bench of Justice VM Kanade and Justice PD Kode directed the state to file its reply by September 22.
Advocate Gunaratan Sadavarte, appearing for the survivor who levelled allegations against developer Niranjan Hiranandani, said, "The behaviour of the officer was insulting and action needs to be taken. As per law, cases of crime against woman have to be recorded and probed by a lady officer, which is not being done."
Additional public prosecutor, Poornima Kantharia, opposed the application and sought time to file a reply, which was granted. The petition claims that on August 28, when the victim had visited the crime branch office, Bhosale had allegedly threatened her. The survivor is a resident of a slum area in Powai. She claimed that Hiranandani has been trying to forcibly evacuate them from the land at Jai Bhim Nagar.
In the petition, the survivor alleged that she was called by Y L Jadhav, senior police inspector of Powai police station, to a community temple on June 14 morning. On reaching the temple, she found him to be in an inebriated condition. Along with two goons, Jadhav then allegedly raped her.
Later, when she went to the police station, the police refused to register her complaint or send her for a medical examination despite repeated requests, she has alleged.
The high court, while hearing the petition earlier, had directed the crime branch to register a complaint against all, including Hiranandani who has filed an affidavit in HC refuting all allegations.
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