Residents of a village have united to bring to book a local landlord and bully, who sexually exploited a physically challenged girl.
PUSAD (Maharashtra): Residents of a Maharashtra village have united to bring to book a local landlord and bully, who sexually exploited a physically challenged girl and then used physical force to abort her and buried the foetus under a garbage stack.
Manohar Baliram Pawar, a married man with two daughters, in village Vanoli of Yavatmal district, 100 km from Pusad town, raped a 20-year-old handicapped girl when she was alone in her hut, and then promised to marry her saying he wanted a son.
"The man visited the girl several times over the next six months (after first raping her), touting the promise of marriage. He gave her some tablets to cure her headache, and caused her to abort using physical force when she was five months pregnant," village head constable Prahlad Chavan said, quoting from the girl's police complaint.
Manohar, who owns a 40-acre farm and also runs a taxi service, has muscled and bullied the villagers for a long time and also influenced the police, who registered a case against unknown persons for illegal abortion and concealment, when the foetus was found Sep 20.
And when the girl owned up the maternity, she was also booked on the same charges.
But the entire village came together and testified to the fact that the girl was only a victim of Manohar's lust.
Led by village headman Narendra Jadhav and his predecessor Kisan Rathod, the villagers prevailed upon the police to register a case against the landlord and his brother Vitthal, who allegedly helped in burying the foetus. Manohar is now on the run.
"The local court here cancelled their bail application Nov 3 on our request after which we went on Manohar's trail to Nagpur on learning that he was preparing to move the high court for anticipatory bail," Chavan said.
The villagers have sworn that they will not rest till they get Manohar. The village has boycotted the landlord's family, with labourers refusing to work in their farm and even Manohar's former henchmen have turned against him.
"He (Manohar) has a weakness for girls and was earlier booked for molesting a married woman. Though we could not find him, we won't rest until we get him," the head constable said.
"All villagers, including Pawars' earlier henchmen, have resolved to end the high-handed ways of Manohar and Vitthal, who could thus far succeed in bullying the people using their money and muscle power," Jadhav said.
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
)
)
)
)
)
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}
){kind=small}