little over a year after a shocking gangrape and murder of a 15-year-old girl, Ahmednagar district in western Maharashtra was on Friday rocked by rape of another minor girl. This time around, a 13-year girl was allegedly raped by an unknown person who offered to take the victim girl on his motor-bicycle to her school.
The incident sparked considerable tension in Teesgaon village of Pathardi tehsil of Ahmednagar district, where the people resorted to agitation demanding the arrest of the unidentified rapist who fled the scene soon after the incident.
The incident took place at around 10.30 am when the victim girl, who studies in the seventh standard, was on her way to school at Manve village, located three kilometers from her residence at Teesgaon.
The mother of the victim girl had stepped out of her home to see her daughter off to school, when she saw a man on a motorbike. “Since my daughter was getting late to school, I asked the motorcyclist to drop my daughter to the school. The motorcyclist who was also on his way to Mandve village readily agreed,” the mother of the victim girl in her complaint lodged with the Pathardi town police station.
The police said that the motorcyclist took the victim girl to a nearby secluded place where he allegedly raped her. later, he dropped the girl at Teesgaon village junction. ‘
The sobbing victim girl related the incident to her family members and villagers, who resorted to instant “rasta roko” demanding the arrest of the youngster who had allegedly perpetrated sexual assault on the school girl.
The agitation soon spread to the Patharadi town where the protesters hurled stones at a state transport bus. However, the police brought the situation under control shortly afterwards.
Meanwhile, the victim girl was taken to the Ahmednagar district civil hospital where she was subjected to a medical examination.
The police have launched the manhunt for the culprit behind the incident.
Happening as it did one week after the first anniversary of the rape and murder of a 15-year-old girl, Friday’s incident brought back the memories of a massive protests that the earlier sexual crime had triggered.
It may be recalled a 15-year-old girl, who belonged to the Maratha community, was brutally raped on July 13, 2016 allegedly by three Dalit men who inflicted injuries all over her body and broke her limbs before throttling her at Kopardi village in Ahmednagar district.
The Kopardi rape and murder case has generated considerable public interest in the state, especially after the Maratha community members — operating under the banner of Maratha Kranti Morcha — have made the handing out of swift punishment to the accused in this case as one of the demands in the ongoing agitation across the State.
On October 7 last year , the Ahmednagar police had filed a 300-page charge-sheet in a lower court against the three accused. The investigators had in all named 70 persons as witnesses in the case.
Subsequently, the three accused --- Jitendra alias Pappu Babulal Shinde (26), Santosh Gorkha Bhaval (30) and Nitin Gopinath Bhailume (28) -- are being currently tried before a fast-track court in Ahmednagar.