FIR against dhol tasha group members for molesting woman journalist

The complainant, who worked with a news portal, alleged that around 8:00 pm on Saturday near Budhwar Chowk, unknown persons from the Trital Dhol Tasha Pathak touched her inappropriately and also slapped her colleague while she was covering the Ganpati immersion procession.

The victim initially filed a complaint application at Faraskhana Police Station, demanding action against the culprits. Media persons informed Pune police authorities about the incident. Neelam Gorhe deputy chairperson of the Maharashtra Legislative Council and NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar condemned the incident and demanded police action against the accused persons.

Police then booked the unidentified accused under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) sections 74, 75 (1), 352 and initiated an investigation.

A delegation of the Pune Union of Working Journalists (PUWJ) held a meeting with Amitesh Kumar, Commissioner of Pune City Police on Monday. PUWJ demanded action against the Dhol Tasha group members who molested the woman journalist.

The PUWJ delegation also told police about incidents of dhol tasha group members misbehaving with press photographers. The PUWJ delegation pointed out that despite possessing proper ID cards for reporting on the Ganesh immersion procession, some journalists and press photographers were roughed up by police personnel deployed at certain spots.

Police commissioner Amitesh Kumar assured that steps will be taken for the safety of media persons and forming a standard operation procedure (SOP) for dhol tasha groups during the Ganesh immersion procession.

Kumar also assured stern action against the person who molested the woman journalists. Police officials said they have got clues about the suspects from videos captured by CCTV cameras around the spot where the incident took place.