Her 17-year-old daughter, Yasmin, is no longer alive. But on Monday Salma Shaikh, 40, finally got justice when Bombay High Court.
Mere disciplinary action would not be enough to punish errant officers: HCHer 17-year-old daughter, Yasmin, is no longer alive. But on Monday Salma Shaikh, 40, finally got justice when Bombay High Court directed the state government to initiate criminal proceedings against three police officers for being negligent and shielding a
local criminal, who allegedly abetted Yasmi’’s suicide.
Noting that shielding a wrongdoer, especially by a police officer, is a serious offence, Justice RMS Khandeparkar and Justice AA Sayed, said mere disciplinary action would not be enough to punish the errant officers, who were entrusted with the duty to investigate offences.
The court directed the government to initiate criminal proceedings within six weeks against police officers Dilip Yadav, Vishwanath Tambe and Abdul Murad Mulani, all attached to Kurla police station.
The court also slapped cost of Rs10,000, which the officers will have to pay together in their personal capacity within four weeks to Shaikh.
Calling the officers shameless for making false statements in court, the judges said that their deliberate and intentional inaction could not be “ignored nor pardoned”. It would send out wrong message and cause great prejudice to the public and erode faith in police.
According to Shaikh’s lawyer Nitin Satpute, Yasmin, a Std X student, set herself ablaze after pouring kerosene on January 17, 2006, as she was being harassed Umesh Arote, 25, who wanted to marry her.
She suffered 97 per cent burns and died in Sion Hospital. Police refused to file a case against Arote, who had 11 other cases against him, for abetting the suicide. Instead, an Accidental Death Report (ADR) was filed by the cops and subsequently, a case of suicide was registered on July 10, 2007, after the petition was filed in June 2007. Arote was arrested in July 2007 and is currently on bail.
Arote had allegedly spoken to Yasmin on cellphone minutes before she committed suicide, but police refused to investigate his involvement. Shaikh had made several trips to Kurla police station to lodge the complaint, but the cops paid no heed to her.
On Monday, Shaikh was present in court to hear the verdict against the officers. “Insaaf to mila mujhe (Finally, I’ve got justice)”, she told DNA quite matter-of-factly.
When asked to show a photograph of her deceased daughter she pulled out one from the numerous plastic bags she was carrying. “We took this photograph for her wedding proposals”, she said showing a picture of a smiling Yasmin, decked up in white.
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