Ex-corporator booked for harassment in Pune

Chairman of Bibvewadi-based Samartha Vidya Mandir, Vijayrao Ganpatrao Mohite, was booked by Sahakarnagar police recently for allegedly demanding sexual favours from a primary school teacher and harassing her mentally on her refusal to oblige him.
Mohite is also a former corporator of the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). The police complaint was filed following the court’s order, which directed the police to investigate the matter as the victim had to run from pillar to post to seek justice.

The police also booked the headmistress of the school, Swati Avinash Arjunwadkar, 46, and secretary of the educational institute, Suhas Kishanrao Pangul, 46.

According to the private criminal complaint filed by the 30-year-old complainant through her lawyer, Manoj Nayak, she has been working as a teacher in the school since March 2006. Her husband works with Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Mohite knew him and helped her get the job.

However, some domestic dispute erupted between the victim and her husband and they separated. When Mohite came to know of this, he started demanding sexual favours from her, the complainant said.

Mohite called her to his residence a few months ago and allegedly passed casteist remarks and questioned her character. He did not allow her to attend school without any official communication.

The next day, she lodged a police complaint at Sahakarnagar police station and a copy was sent to the PMC’s education officer.
After coming under pressure from the police, Mohite reinstated the victim. “Mohite often demanded sexual favours from me to allow me continue working in the school. When I complained about this to the headmistress, Arjunwadkar, she issued a memo to me for registering a complaint against Mohite,” the complainant said.
In July, Mohite allegedly outraged the modesty of the complainant, and when she complained to Arjunwadkar, the latter allegedly asked her to oblige Mohite. Later, she was handed a suspension letter.

Arjunwadkar and Pangul allegedly forcefully snatched her cellphone and made her sign on a blank paper.

They confined her in the school and was released only after her father’s friend came there, reads the complaint. When the victim again submitted a police complaint, no action was taken, forcing her to move court.

On September 6, judicial magistrate (first class), KP Jain-Desarda, directed the Sahakarnagar police to register a case against the trio for criminal conspiracy, outraging the modesty of a woman and other relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860, and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention Of Atrocities) Act, 1989.