Woman stripped under police nose

PUNE, March 30: A 32-year-old woman was allegedly assaulted and stripped by a group of women, a former corporator and some hoodlums at su...

PUNE, March 30: A 32-year-old woman was allegedly assaulted and stripped by a group of women, a former corporator and some hoodlums at survey number 38/4 Parvati Darshan, a residential locality.

Although the incident occurred on March 14, the police registered the complaint last evening only after a women8217;s organisation took out a morcha to the Parvati Darshan police chowkey.

The group of women who assaulted the victim apparently believed that she was involved in helping a girl residing in the locality to elope with a boy. They claimed that the victim knew the whereabouts of the boy and the girl and sought details from her.

While the victim pleaded ignorance about the eloping incident, as many as nine persons including four women accosted her when she had just completed washing utensils and clothes at a water post around 9.30 pm on that fateful day.

The victim told Pune Newsline today that she was beaten up when she said she had no idea about the whereabouts of the boy and the girl. 8220;They dragged me and one of them threatened to strip me if I did not disclose the details. The accompaying women then began stripping me. They tore off my saree and one of them was just turning over the torn clothes with a stick in his hand. They even prevented me from collecting the torn clothes.8221;

Incidentally, the police chowkey is just 200 metres from the victim8217;s residence where the incident was taking place. 8220;No one came to my rescue and I had to sprint to the police chowkey. The police, after notcing my condition, gave me a blanket for cover.8221;

The police made inquiries about the incident and summoned the perpetrators. They however alleged that the woman herself had torn off her clothes. Complaints and crosss-complaints were lodged but no arrests were made.

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The victim, a worker at a private hospital, said that the boy who eloped with the girl came regularly for taking tiffin from her. When the victim got suspicious about the boy meeting the girl on a few occasions, she even warned him and the girl8217;s mother.

When the girl and the boy finally eloped, the girl8217;s mother started making inquiries with the victim and threatened to launch a police complaint against her.

After the incident in which the victim was assaulted and stripped, she alleged that 8220;some influential persons were directing the police not to take any action.8221;

The Shramik Mahila Morcha on Saturday took out a morcha to the police chowkey demanding that the assaulters be arrested. The police registered a complaint yesterday and named the accused as Mangal Nimbalkar, Anju Dhavde, Shobha Dhavde, Pappu Dhavde, Raja Pasalkar, Appa Dhavde, Balu Bhamre, Dilip Pasalkar, and Kamal Dhavde. No arrests had been made till late evening. The Shramik Mahila Morcha held an agitation at the police chowkey yesterday evening.