In a shocking incident in Pune, a 21-year-old woman was allegedly raped by three unknown men in the Bopdev Ghat area late on Thursday night, officials said. A First Information Report (FIR) in the case was registered on Friday morning at the Kondhwa Police Station, they added.
According to Ranjan Kumar Sharma, Joint Commissioner of Police, the girl had gone to Bopdev Ghat with a male friend, where she was allegedly raped by three men at around 11pm. However, the incident was reported to police at around 5am on Friday. The search for the accused is still underway, and ten teams of the Crime Branch and Detective Branch were formed for the search and arrest of the accused, added Sharma.
The police have taken a statement from the victim woman who has been admitted to a hospital after the incident. As per the statement, the accused first beat up the woman's friend, tied him with his shirt and belt to a tree. They then dragged the woman to an isolated area and gangraped her. After the accused left the crime scene, the woman was admitted to a hospital.
As of now, no arrest has been made.
Meanwhile, following the incident, NCP (SP) Working President Supriya Sule said that it was a very infuriating incident and questioned the safety of women in Pune and across the state. She further criticised the state home department for not taking any action to stop such incidents.
"Very infuriating! What is going on in Pune? The incident of gang rape of a girl in Bopdev Ghat has come to light. Incidents of violence against women are continuously increasing in Pune and across the state. The home department does not seem to be doing anything to stop these incidents. Unfortunately, it has to be said that Maharashtra is not safe for women. The government should arrest the accused in the said incident and take strict action against them," Sule said in a post on X (formerly Twitter).
Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Aaditya Thackeray commented, "The law and order situation in Maharashtra has absolutely collapsed. What a disgrace for a regime that spies on opposition, has time for fake inaugurations and scams, but has no time for the common citizen." "When you have the worst Home Minister of all the states, this is what we get. Shame on the illegitimate government that has actively protected sexual assaulters in their own fold that has led to no fear of law and order. More than ladki behen, Maharashtra needs Surakshit Ma/Behen/Beti," added Sena (UBT) Rajya Sabha MP Priyanka Chaturvedi.
