Pune Police are planning to reach out to around 5 lakh students from educational institutions across the city and sensitise them about safety and security in the wake of the incident in Sadashiv Peth. A 20-year-old college student was attacked with a machete by a 21-year-old youth in the above said area because she had ended their relationship due to his abusive behaviour. The incident on Tuesday took place a few hundred metres from the Perugate police chowky of Vishrambag police station. It has since come to light that two police constables on duty at the chowky, were not present at the place when the incident took place. When local residents caught the assailant and took him to the chowky, they found it closed and the personnel on duty took a few more minutes to return. "We have taken up this very seriously. It is a clear dereliction of duty. Action has been initiated against the two constables," the Pune City Police Commissioner Retesh Kumaarr told The Indian Express. Kumaarr further said, "We are planning to connect all the police chowkis in Pune city via network on CCTV cameras which will be monitored centrally." Officials said that an inquiry has been launched against the two cops. Meanwhile, a Pune court remanded the 21-year-old attacker Shantanu Jadhav, arrested Tuesday morning, to four days in police custody till July 1. Police are investigating past communications between Jadhav and the woman to ascertain the sequence of events that led to the attack, and as to how the accused got the machete. The incident took place just days after the murder of Darshana Pawar, the 26-year-old woman, whose body was found at the foothills of Rajgad fort on June 18. Four days later, the Pune rural police arrested Darshana's friend Rahul Handore (28) in the case, with the probe revealing that he had allegedly committed the murder because she had rejected his marriage proposal. The two incidents have prompted Pune City police to undertake a large-scale sensitisation effort on the subject. "Pune City Police have already undertaken a large-scale awareness initiative for students from colleges, school and other institutes on the subject of drugs and addiction. We plan to reach out to at least five lakh students in this effort, and even more after assessing the response. Now, in the backdrop of the attack on a student in Sadashiv Peth and the murder of Darshana Pawar in Pune Rural jurisdiction, we have decided to also focus on the subject of safety and security of students in the ongoing programme," City Police Commissioner Kumaarr said. "The probe into the Sadashiv Peth incident has revealed that the attacker had been stalking and troubling the student for the last two years. She might have spoken about it to the family, but no one had come forward to register a complaint. We can not disregard the fact that many times people hesitate to register police complaints fearing people around them will come to know of it, or due to the fear of more harassment from the perpetrator. In the proposed awareness programmes, we plan to sensitise students on the importance of reporting about what is happening with them. We also intend to send a very strong message that those who stalk, harass, bully and rag will face strictest possible action under the legal framework," Kumaarr said. Officials said the awareness sessions on safety and security will include DOs and DON'Ts for students, situations which warrant reporting the matters to the institute authorities and the police, steps to be taken while approaching the police and also sensitising them to Cyber safety measures, among other matters. These sessions will begin from Friday after the police deployment for Ashadhi Ekadashi and Bakrid is concluded, Kumaarr said.
