In a shocking incident, a 30-year-old destitute and differently abled woman was raped by two staffers of the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC)’s civic hospital in Bhosari. Though the crime took place in the hospital lift on Thursday evening, the incident wasn’t noticed until the victim was discharged from the hospital and went to her shelter home.
She narrated the incident to a rehabilitation officer of the home on Saturday evening, who immediately lodged a police complaint. The victim lives in a shelter home - Chaitanya Mahila Mandal in Bhosari - that takes care of destitute and women in distress and works for their rehabilitation.
The rehabilitation officer lodged a complaint and on Sunday, the hospital’s ward boy and a security guard were arrested based on the descriptions given by the victim. They work in the PCMC-run hospital in Bhosari, known as Corporation Hospital, where the victim was undergoing treatment for pneumonia.
The arrested persons were identified as watchman, Pramod Manohar Mandekar (28), a resident of Phugemane Ali in Bhosari and ward boy Shailendra Dagdu Jadhav (39), a resident of nurses’ quarters in Bhosari. They have been slapped under the relevant sections of Indian Penal Code, 1860 pertaining to rape and punishment for abetment. Police sub inspector SS Kandalkar is investigating the case.
They were produced before the court of judicial magistrate (first class) and were remanded in police custody till September 4. Senior inspector SD Kekane, incharge of Bhosari police station said, “The victim was suffering from pneumonia and was admitted to the hospital on Monday. On Thursday at 8.30 pm, the duo went into the room under the pretext of shifting her to another room for her medical tests. They forcefully took her inside the lift and raped her. “
He added that victim remained mum about the incident and instead informed the nurse that she wanted to go back to her shelter home. Accordingly, she was sent back to her home.
“However the hospital nurse suspected something amiss, from the victim’s behaviour. She narrated the incident to the shelter home’s rehabilitation official on Saturday. The victim claimed she was raped by one of the arrested person and the other helped him. We took the help of a speech therapist as the victim has a speech problem and recorded her statement. Both staffers are in police custody and we are trying to find out who raped her,” he said.
One of the shelter home’s senior members told dna that the victim had been living at the shelter home for the last couple of years.
“She had been a victim of harassment in the past too and our team was trying to teach her to earn her livelihood. The victim is a slow learner and stammers while speaking. Currently, she is in mental shock and admitted to Sassoon Hospital for medical examination and psychiatric counselling.”
PCMC institutes inquiry into crime
Dr Anil Rao, medical officer of health attached to PCMC, said, “We have recorded the statements of the hospital staffers. The arrested person Jadhav has been working as a ward boy for two years and Mandekar is a watchman working on contract basis. We are conducting an inquiry into the incident as well as waiting for the police and medical report.”
Women party workers protest at police station
Women members of various political parties gathered outside the Bhosari police station on Sunday morning, agitating against the two arrested persons. The women were demanding that the arrested persons be handed over to them so that they could be taught a lesson.
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