Journalism of Courage
Pune City Police on Tuesday arrested Karuna Sharma, 43, who has claimed to be the second wife of Maharashtra Social Justice Minister Dhananjay Munde. She was arrested for allegedly hurling a casteist slur against a 23-year-old woman, who is the complainant in this case. Sharma is also accused of threatening the complainant to divorce her husband.
The police have also arrested the complainant’s husband.
An FIR in the case was registered at Yerawada police station Sunday based on the complaint by the 23-year-old woman, who resides in Pune, against her 32-year-old husband and Sharma, who is a resident of Santacruz in Mumbai. The sequence of alleged events for which the offence was registered took place between November 2021 and May 30 this year.
Pune Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta said, “Karuna Sharma and the husband of the complainant were arrested from a lodge located in Pune district. Further probe is on.”
According to the FIR, the complainant was being pressured by her husband to give him a divorce saying he was in a relationship with Sharma. According to the complaint, Sharma allegedly threatened the complainant with a hockey stick and also threatened to kill her if she did not give him a divorce. Sharma is also alleged to have hurled casteist slur against the complainant. The police have invoked Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against Sharma.
In the same offence the 32-year-old husband of the woman has been booked under Indian Penal Code sections 498A for domestic violence, 323 for physical assault and 377 for unnatural offences.
