Excerpt from Hindustan Times Mumbai, reported by HT Correspondent on October 05, 2011: Read Full Article

The RCF police, who are investigating the alleged abduction and rape of a 21-year-old woman by three persons in an autorickshaw on September 26, have zeroed in on six autorickshaw drivers plying in the Chembur-Chunabhatti stretch who have not been found at their residential addresses.

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The RCF police have been looking out for an auto driver and his two accomplices, who allegedly abducted the victim — who is suffering from major depressive disorder (MDD) mental condition — from outside her mother’s Vashi Naka residence around 2.30am. The accused forced her into an autorickshaw, raped her and dumped her while she was unconscious in Chunabhatti. She was later found wandering around by beat marshals on night duty and taken to Sion hospital.

“Since one of the accused was identified as an autorickshaw driver, we began searching out for drivers who matched the description of the accused given by the victim,” said an officer from RCF police who did not wish to be named.

“We have narrowed down our search to six autorickshaw drivers. We have not been able to track them to their residence. We suspect the accused belongs to this group,” added the officer.

The police had released the sketches of the three accused based on the description given by the victim last week.

Earlier Stories : -

• Abduction and Rape : Suspects’ sketches released 
• Woman gangraped in moving rickshaw near RCF

Excerpt from Hindustan Times, reported by Mohamed Thaver on September 29, 2011: Read Full Article

The abduction and rape of a mentally unstable 21-year-old woman in the wee hours on Monday has put another dent in Mumbai’s image as a women-safe city.

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According to the police, the woman was picked up from near a road in Chembur and dumped in the Chunabhatti area around an hour ater.
She was found wandering around by beat marshals on night duty and taken to Sion hospital. A case of rape and abduction was registered against the unidentified men after medical reports confirmed rape.

Additional commissioner of police (east region) Qaiser Khalid said, “We are on the lookout for three persons, including the driver of the auto-rickshaw in which the victim was abducted and raped.” He added that based on whatever the traumatised victim could recollect, officers of the RCF police station in Chembur, where a formal complaint has been registered, have prepared sketches of the accused.

Yesterdays post :  Woman gangraped in moving rickshaw near RCF

Excerpt from Mid-Day, reported by Sayed Roshan on 2011-09-28 : Read Full Article

RCF police are on the lookout for three persons, accused of raping a 22-year-old for two hours after abducting her from RCF area in Chembur

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A 22-year-old woman was abducted by three Chunabhatti residents and raped in a moving auto rickshaw for two hours last Sunday evening.

The woman, Anita (name changed), was abducted near Rashtriya Chemical and Fertilizers (RCF) company in Chembur and dumped at a spot four km away in Chunabhatti later in the night, where policemen from a beat chowkie found her.

She was rushed to Sion hospital, where she is currently admitted in a ward.

According to the RCF police, they received a call from the Chunabhatti chowkie, informing them that they had brought a rape victim from RCF area to Sion hospital.

Excerpt from Indian Express, reported by on Dec 10, 2010: Read Full Article

A 24-year-old man was sentenced to life by a sessions court for murdering a 14-year-girl and then sexually abusing her body.

According to the prosecution case, the victim, who lived in a modest flat in Chembur with her parents, went missing after she stepped out to buy shampoo on the morning of January 8. She was allegedly lured by Nagesh Gholap into a ground floor flat where he held the victim’s head down in a bucket of water and raped her when she fell unconscious. But later as she began to gain consciousness, he beat her to death with a rod and sodomised her. The accused confessed to the crime soon after his arrest.

Press Trust Of India : A fast-track court, which acquitted all the six accused in the alleged rape of an American student of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) in Mumbai last year, has observed that the victim was never raped and no “sexual intercourse” took place.
The court at Sewree had acquitted the accused, all students, on October 6 for lack of evidence. A detailed copy of the judgement was made available to the lawyers on Tuesday.
The court’s observations that the victim was never raped and no “sexual intercourse” took place were noted in the 100-page document. It described the 23-year-old victim’s statements as “neither wholly reliable nor wholly unreliable”.

The case dates back to April 12, 2009 when, according to police, six friends – Vinamra Soni (23), Harshvardharn Yadav (22), Jaskaran Singh Bullar (21), Anish Borkatki (21), Dev Colabawala (21) and Kundanraj Bodgohai (22) took the student to a house in Andheri and allegedly gang raped her.
“The victim claims that she doesn’t remember anything about the incident that took place at the house of one of the accused (Bodgohai). In such a scenario there should be some corroborative, independent or medical evidence. No such evidence is available in this case,” the verdict said.
The court further said the victim, who had been out with her friend to meet the boys at Cafe XO bar in Deonar (where TISS is located), was not an invited guest and had just landed at the place without any prior notice.
“So there is no scope of any prior meeting of minds.The victim had gone to the caf out of her will and was never forced to accompany the boys (accused) to Kundan’s house at Andheri,” Principle Judge S D Jagmalani noted.
One of the important medical witnesses, Dr Minal Sarmarkar, did not support the prosecution’s claim that the victim was drugged with a date-rape drug. Sarmarkar had testified that the drug’s sample was not traced in her urine.
The prosecution has to prove its case beyond all reasonable doubts and there can be no presumptions that the victim would always tell the entire story truthfully, the Judge observed.
“The victim’s testimony falls under the third category – neither wholly reliable nor wholly unreliable. In this category, court has to circumspect and look for corroboration. Such corroborative evidence were not available in this case.”
The American student’s claim that she had fallen unconscious after the incident was rejected by the court. “The victim had called her friend (Rishabh Choksi) during the time she claimed she was outraged by the accused. The claim that she fell unconscious can not be accepted.”
It is true that the victim is a foreign national and the court has sympathy towards such foreign citizens but at the same time the court should not ignore basic principles of criminal law, the Judge maintained.

Excerpt from Mirror, reported by Anand Holla on October 07: Read Full Article

One of the accused, Jaskaran Singh, leaves the court with a family member after being acquitted of rape

Six youths who had been accused of raping an American girl in 2009 have been set free due to ‘lack of evidence’, believing that the girl is not a ‘reliable witness’ and her testimony lacks credibility.

Eighteen months after a 23-year-old American student of Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS) was allegedly gang raped, the case has wound up with all six accused acquitted.

The verdict pronounced by a Sewri fast track court on Wednesday caused considerable tremors as the police had filed a chargesheet against the accused based on the victim’s testimony after her medical and forensic report failed to confirm sexual assault.

On April 15, the TISS student had registered a complaint with the Trombay police alleging gang rape by six of her friends on April 12.

The complainant was here on a four-month course at the institute and had accompanied the men to XO bar in Deonar and subsequently accompanied them to an apartment in Andheri where she alleged she was drugged and gang raped.

In her statement the woman had said that it was only the next morning she realised she had been raped as the drugs had made her unconscious.

As reported by PTI Sep 1, 2010

A fast track trial court today recorded final statements of five of the six accused in the TISS rape case.
In the statement recorded under section 313 of CrPC, the accused denied all the allegations leveled against them for raping a US national, studying at the TISS institute, in April last year.

“The five accused told the court that they had gone out with the girl for partying and then returned to the house of one of the accused. They denied having raped her,” defence lawyer Rohini Salian said.

Six students – Vinamra Soni (23), Harshavardhan Yadav (22), Jaskaran Singh (21), Dev Colabawala (21), Anish Borkatki (21) and Kundanraj Borgonain (22) were arrested in April soon after the alleged incident.

According to the police, on April 12 last year, the victim had gone to a party with a hostelmate and six of her male friends. The group had snacked and consumed liquor at Deonar”s Cafe XO after which she, along with her male friends, went to Andheri. She was allegedly raped at Borgonain”s rented flat there.

The girl”s statement blames Soni as the main culprit who spiked her drink and raped her along with the other accused.
The court will record the statement of Borgonain on September 3.

Excerpt from Hindustan Times, reported  on July 29, 2010: Read Full Article

Family members of the 17-year-old Chembur rape victim on Wednesday said they should not have approached the authorities of Vivekanand Education Society’s College where their daughter and the accused studied. They should have approached the police, they said.

The 20-year-old management student was allegedly raped by her senior of the Chembur college on July 21. The family filed a police complaint on Sunday, four days after the incident.

“The medical reports may not confirm rape as the examination has been delayed by three days,” said the girl’s father.

“When we learnt the boy’s father is a peon in the same college, we filed a police complaint.” They met through a social networking site and became friends. “My daughter’s life has been ruined,” he said.

The girl’s family said they had a reputation to protect and instead of going to the police they approached the principal. “We thought the principal being a woman, would initiate action. But she claimed the boy was innocent,” said another family member.

The feel if they had gone to the police on the first day itself, the girl’s medical examination would have been done and vital scientific evidence, confirming the rape, would have been collected immediately.

Excerpt from Hindustan Times, reported by Shahkar Abidi & Yashshri Soman, on July 28, 2010: Read Full Article

‘We approached college first’ :
The family of the 17-year-old girl, who was allegedly raped on July 21 by her senior from the Chembur college they studied in, first approached the college and asked for action to be taken against the boy.

The girl has alleged that the 20-year-old boy, a third year student of the Bachelor of Management Studies, raped her at his house in Chembur Camp when she had gone there to work on a college project. They had met on a social networking site.

Sources close to the girl’s family said they first approached authorities at Vivekanand Education Society’s College of Arts Science and Commerce, seeking action against the boy, since he too was their student.

Girl has cooked up story: Boy’s dad
Excerpt from Hindustan Times, on July 28, 2010: Read Full Article
The father of the 20-year-old college student accused of raping his junior on July 21 has alleged that the victim had cooked up a story to malign their family. “My son is innocent and I am 100 per cent sure about this,” the boy’s father told HT on Tuesday. He denied the girl visited his home on the night of the alleged crime.

The boy’s father, who works as a peon, also denied that his family was away on a pilgrimage when the alleged rape took place. “We were very much at home on that day,” he said.
“We are poor people. My son can never commit such a heinous crime. His only fault was he befriended a rich girl.”

Excerpt from Hindustan Times by Shahkar Abidi & Yashshri Soman, on July 27, 2010: Read Full Article

Friends and classmates of the 20-year-old student of Vivekanand Education Society’s College of Arts, Science and Commerce arrested on Sunday on charges of raping a junior from the same college, refused to believe he could have committed such an act. “I know him as a shy introvert. I still can’t believe he could do such a thing,” said a friend of the accused, who like most other students, did not wish to be identified.
She claimed she knew the 20-year-old for the last couple of years and said he was a reserved person who hardly mingled with anyone. “I never noticed him look at a girl with bad intentions. He seemed the kind who could harm anybody,” the friend added.

The families of the accused and the victim were not available for comment.

Sources said the accused was his parents’ only son. He has two sisters, who are married.

Sources added that his family had taken great pains to educate him and had hoped he would bail them out of their poverty.

Faculty members, who often passed by the accused and the victim in the college corridors, were stunned by the allegations.

“I am shocked,” said J. K. Phadnis, principal of Vivekanand Education Society’s College of Arts, Science and Commerce at Chembur. “We do not plan to take any action against the boy unless he is proved guilty.”