Journalism of Courage
22-yr-old woman said her neighbour raped her several times since January this year
Another rape case has come to light after a 22-year-old woman from Marketyard filed a complaint with the Pune police on Friday that her 35-year-old neighbour raped her several times since January this year.
The man was helping her to claim life insurance policy following the death of both her parents in a road accident in 2006,police said. The man was also a friend of the woman,police said,adding that the victim hails from a poor family. After the death of her parents three years ago,she has been responsible for bringing up her two brothers aged six and 11 years and was engaged in tailoring work to make ends meet.
Police said Kotle had cordial relations with the womans father and helped her in claiming the insurance amount of Rs 1.2 lakh after her parents death. But he forcibly took Rs 35,000 from the claim amount,police said. Later,whenever she asked Kotle to return the money,he threatened her. In January this year,he forcibly took her to a lodge in Katraj and raped her at knifepoint,police said.
Senior police inspector Rajkumar Gaikwad of Swargate police station said the woman was living in fear and hence she could not lodge a police complaint. Kotle took undue advantage of this helplessness and raped her repeatedly in the ensuing weeks. But when she read the media reports about the recent rape cases,she spoke to few women in her area,who helped her lodge the police complaint. The police arrested Kotle under Sections 376,506(2) of the Indian Penal Code. SI Varsha Patil is investigating the case.
