The Maharashtra State Human Rights Commission (MSHRC) has sent a summon to Anand Bhoite, deputy commissioner of police Zone XI of the north region, Malvani division, over a sexual assault case of a 5-year-old boy, registered on April 5 with the Kandivali Police.
According to the notice, a police sub-inspector at the Kandivali police station who was appointed as the investigating officer in this case, allegedly ‘harassed’ the victim while recording his statement, and even manipulated an FIR.
The complainant of the FIR is the victim’s father, 32, a resident of Malad. As per the FIR, the child’s mother asked the complainant to book them a hotel for her and her friends, which he did, at a Kandivali-based hotel. The complainant found out from the hotel manager that more people were staying in the room than the number his wife mentioned. When the complainant went to the room he found that the extra man, who he was unknown to, was his wife’s boyfriend. Shortly later, the complainant took his 5-year-old boy with him, and left for Pune with his friend.
Allegations Of Delayed Action And Manipulation
On March 27, the child suddenly told his father and father’s friend about experiencing ‘bad things’ while he was in the hotel room. He even said he was assaulted. On the next day, when a second friend of the complainant showed up, the boy started to repeat the same thing. The boy told his father that he was touched inappropriately, and assaulted by a man who was allegedly his mother’s boyfriend. The complainant in the FIR added that this wife, also the victim’s mother, was present while this was happening, making her the co-accused in the matter.
In a complaint to the MSHRC, the complainant alleges that he approached the police on April 1 and the matter was assigned to police sub-inspector Narayan Khade who delayed registering the FIR and kept the victim at the police station till late night on the pretext of recording his statement. The complainant added that Khade told the hospital authorities at Shatabdi Hospital that the victim was mentally unstable, which the former felt demeaning to the child as he is ‘fit’ and ‘sharp’. Only after contacting a commission official, the FIR was registered by Khade, but, the complainant said, “After registration of FIR, I saw my entire statement was manipulated by Khade.
Complainant Accuses Khade Of Harassment, Seeks Justice In Court
Entire name and address of the accused Shailesh Lawania is not written despite mentioning it. Khade knows very well that my child gets exhausted and he cries in the name of a medical test still just to cause harassment. He was taken to this medical twice for no reason. For one week I have been running around with my child to get justice but Khade is behaving so rudely with us as if we are the accused and not the victim. He has been trying to guard the offenders since the beginning,” said the complainant who is represented by Advocate Ganesh Gupta.
In the summon notice, it says that this matter will appear on board before Division Bench of Justice KK Tated, Chairperson and Sanjay Kumar, on May 7.
When FPJ contacted the DCP Anand Bhoite, he still hadn’t received the copy of the summon notice. However, he said, “I’ll look into it and do what is needed.”
