Three cops including senior police inspector Rajendra Patil of Talegaon Dabhade police station were suspended on Wednesday over the suicide of 16-year-old Shrusti Dabhade. The alleged eve-teaser was also arrested. However, her father, advocate Vijay Dabhade said their suspension would not bring his daughter back, though it would deter further such incidents.
All three cops, senior police inspector Rajendra Patil, head constable RH Bhendbhar and police writer Sandip Sakpal were suspended by home minister RR Patil. “We protested against these cops’ insensitive approach toward the issue like eve-teasing and got them suspended. This will send a strong message in the society as well as in the police department and such incidents would not occur again,” he said.
Shrusti, a student of Std XI at a Talegaon Dabhade-based junior college on Tuesday allegedly committed suicide by jumping off from a water tank after allegedly being eve-teased by one Akash Salvi of Talegaon.
Dabhade told dna, “On Tuesday, my wife, daughter and I went to the Talegaon Dabhade police station to register a complaint against the boy. However, the station duty officer Bhendbhar and Sakpal said it was a non-cognisable matter. My daughter even narrated the whole trauma of harassment by the youth over the last five months, however the police personnel gave a cold response and tried to shirk their duties.”
Dabhade claimed they were asked to approach senior police inspector Rajendra Patil and convince him. But Patil kept them waiting for more than 30 minutes and did not meet them. He added that if a advocate receives such treatment from the police, then what about the common man.
“As I was getting late, we left the police station and after dropping my daughter and my wife at home, I went to court for my daily work. In the afternoon, I received a call from my wife who said my daughter has gone out of the house without her phone. I immediately called up the police station and informed them that my daughter was untraceable. After some time I got a call from the police station and they told me that my daughter had jumped off the water tank and had been shifted to hospital,” he said.
Shrusti died while undergoing treatment.
Meanwhile, superintendent of police (Pune rural) Manoj Lohiya admitted there was dereliction of duty by the three cops including senior police inspector Rajendra Patil. He said that after this incident, the three cops have been suspended. “The police station officers should have taken the complaint at the first instance, but they showed an insensitive approach and did not show any seriousness in lodging the complaint,” he said.
He said that after this incident, all police stations were warned and asked to lodge complaints without any hesitation. Lohiya said he has received several complaints from the people that this police station did not entertain people’s complaints related to eve-teasing. “I have initiated investigation in these cases also and will check why the cases were not registered,” he said.
The alleged eve-teaser’s parents have been booked. Asked why, Lohiya said in the complaint, the girl’s father had alleged that the teen’s parents were involved. “Since there are directions from the Supreme Court that the complaint should taken as it is, we took his complaint. However, we will investigate their role,” he said.
Cases of police inaction in the city
Jyotsna Bagul (20), a third year engineering student of DY Patil College of Engineering was stabbed to death by her cousin Yogesh Bachchav (25) in Akurdi on September 1, 2010 when she rejected his marriage proposal. During investigation it was revealed that Jyotsna had approached the Chinchwad police on March 20, 2010 alleging that Yogesh had threatened to kill her. The police neglected the case and finally she lost her life while she returning home with her roommate. Then commissioner of police Meeran Chadha Borwankar suspended a constable and two cops were transferred for not taking action on the parents’ complaints.
On March 12, 2013, Vishrantwadi residents Archana Jadhav (28) and Angad Rathodkar (47) found a 12-year-old girl at Charholi, who had been abused. They took her to the police but to no avail. They were made to run from pillar to post from one police station to another. Later, the citizens came into contact with Dr Yamini Adbe and after six hours’ hassles, a case was registered. Dr Adbe approached DCP Manoj Patil and an inquiry was held against one constable and sub-inspector in this regard.
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