Almost a month after an 18-year-old girl was allegedly raped and murdered at a government hostel in Marine Drive, the state government has given approval to temporarily shelter the residents of Savitribai Phule girls hostel in a seven-storey building at a government colony in Bandra as the dilapidated hostel is going in for repairs. Higher and Technical Education Minister Chandrakant Patil said in the legislative council that the building is part of a seven-building project meant for government servants that has recently come up. Responding to a question on the incident in which the girl was raped and killed by a security guard at the hostel who later died by suicide, the minister said, “The hostel structure was dilapidated, due to which there were hardly any girls living there. The structure is going in for repairs and a new seven-storey structure will come up in its place. Apart from that, in the meantime, Chied Minister Eknath Shinde has granted permission for the 450 girls at the hostel to stay at the government colony building till the time the new structure comes up.” Patil added that apart from giving training to the rectors at these hostels across the state, they will also be putting up panic alarms in hostel rooms, hire retired military personnel or recruit women security guards for the safety and security of the hostel inmates. Speaking about the deceased girl’s family, Patil said while the girl’s family was given a compensation of Rs 5 lakh, her brother was given a job at the Amravati Engineering college. Moreover, a compensation of Rs 10 lakh has been sought under the government’s Manodhairya scheme that provides monetary compensation to victims of sexual assault.
