Cases of rape of minors and molestation are on the rise in the steel city. Several cases of heinous crime have been reported from fringe areas especially like Parsudih and Bagbera.
During the past month, six cases of rape and five cases of molestation have been reported with the Parsudih and Babgera police stations areas alone.
In a glaring incident a 17-year-old girl resident of Baghbera police station area has lodged an attempt to rape case against the son of her landlord on Monday. The girl has alleged that while she was going out to her aunt’s house, located nearby on Sunday evening, the accused, Pankaj Yadav, took her to the backyard on the pretext of some work and tried to outrage her modesty.
When the girl’s parents returned home from a relative’s house late last night, they lodged a complaint with the Bagbera police station, leading the police to register a case against the accused.
“We are conducting raids at possible hideouts to arrest the culprit,” said Bagbera police station in-charge, Shailendra Kumar.
On Sunday, father of a schoolgirl lodged a complaint with the Parsudih police station alleging a man, Kartik Dey, to have raped his daughter and circulated her MMS. In this connection too, the police have done nothing more than registering a case of rape.
In the night of August 22, three youths caught hold of a young woman at Garabasa under Bagbera police station and molested her first. As there was no one around, the trio, identified as Manoj Singh, Pappu Singh and Anand Singh dragged her to a corner to rape her. But as she screamed, leading the people to rush to the spot, the accused fled the spot. The victim’s husband laxminarayan Gaur has lodged an FIR with the Bagbera police station in connection to the incident, but the accused are still at large.
Even cases relating to cheating minor girls on the pretext of love and marriage too have gone up. Experts blame it on inactive police administration which is said to be indifferent to control criminal activities and influx of criminals from outside.
“The situation has fast changed in our city. Women are not feeling safe now. Steps need to be taken to ensure their protection. I am of the opinion that failure of police in arresting rape accused and people’s reluctance to file FIR regarding rape are some of the factors behind increase molestation cases”, Alpna Chakravarty says, an activist working for NGO.
“We need to hold discussions in high schools and colleges, in forums where films are screened and discussed. We need to have women police to arrest men who
harass women,” said the social worker.
M Guria, officer-in-charge of Sakchi-based Women’s Police station, said in most of the cases registered with the Parsudih and Bagbera police station the teen-aged girls are falling victim.