The Bombay HC hauled up the police for not taking action against a man who assaulted his neighbours to prevent their daughters from going to college.
MUMBAI: The Bombay High Court on Monday hauled up the police for not taking 'prompt action' against a man who allegedly assaulted his neighbours to prevent their daughters from going to college.
Samina Shaikh, 19, and her sister Zarina Shaikh, 18, had approached the court last week complaining that the neighbour Mohammad Ali Nisar Ansari beat up their parents and brother on May 11 as he did not like them going to college.
Ansari thought 'only girls with bad character' go to college, they said in the complaint.
Justices Ranjana Desai and Dilip Bhosale of the court directed senior inspector of Nagpada police station Abdul Pathan to file an affidavit within a week on what steps police took after Samina's first complaint of assault on March 7.
"Had you taken prompt action, this incident would not have happened," the judges remarked.
The police said after Samina lodged the first complaint, Ansari was summoned and given a warning but the judges were not satisfied with the reply.
Ansari's lawyer said his client merely advised the parents to keep watch on the girls because 'they were talking to some males and indulging in immoral behaviour.'
"Who is he? Are you suggesting that any citizen can take upon himself to decide what is immoral? Is talking to males immoral? " the judges asked.
At the last hearing, Ansari stated in the court that he found the girls' behaviour immoral, to which the judges said, 'let us know what is your idea of immoral'.
Ansari, in his affidavit, has denied he ever assaulted the girls or their family members.
According to the petition, Ansari told the girls' father Yashin Shaikh not to send them to college after they passed SSC exam, but was asked to mind his business.
In March this year, Ansari assaulted Samina but when she went to Nagpada police station, police allegedly refused to entertain her as he was a police informer, it said.
On May 11, Ansari and two others allegedly assaulted their father, brother and mother. The three had to be hospitalised.
The girls alleged that the police were not serious enough about ensuring their safety and asked for transfer of the case to another police station.
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