The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Sunday termed Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale’s remark on the Saki Naka rape case as “unfortunate” and said that the police cannot run away from its responsibilities. “The statement is extremely unfortunate. Police can’t run away from their responsibility,” said Chandramukhi Devi, member of NCW.
Addressing a press conference over the horrifying rape case on Saturday, Nagrale, when questioned over the absence of police patrolling units in the Saki Naka area, had said that the police cannot be present at every crime location.
Announcing that a special investigation team has been formed to probe the case, Nagrale had said: “Police reached the spot within 10 minutes. It cannot be present at every crime location. They will only after getting information. Police worked to the best of their capability.”
The 34-year-old woman, who was raped and brutalised with an iron rod by a man inside a stationary tempo in Saki Naka, succumbed to her injuries in the early hours of Saturday. The crime, which bore similarity to the 2012 `Nirbhaya’ gang-rape case of Delhi, took place in the wee hours of Friday. The suspect, arrested within a few hours of the incident, was later charged with murder.
According to police, accused Mohan Chouhan (45) worked as a driver and lived on the pavement in the same area. Besides being raped, the victim woman was assaulted with an iron rod in her private parts and lost a lot of blood, a police official said. She was also stabbed with a knife, he added.
Nagrale told reporters that the crime came to light when the watchman of a company located on Khairani Road in Sakinaka called the police control room and said that a man was seen thrashing a woman.
Police reached the spot within 10 minutes and found the victim inside a parked tempo. As her condition was serious, they decided to take her to hospital in the same vehicle so as to save time. They got the key of the tempo from the watchman and drove her to Rajawadi hospital in suburban Ghatkopar, the commissioner said.
The police also obtained CCTV footage of the spot. A man who was seen leaving the tempo in the footage was identified as Mohan Chouhan who hails from Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, the commissioner said. He was arrested and produced before a court which sent him in police custody till September 21, Nagrale said.