Khushi Thawani, Mumbai Uncensored, 7th February 2023:
The Mira-Bhayander-Vasai-Virar (MBVV) police commissioner Madhukar Pandey has determined that all complaints made by women, even if they seem “minor,” must be taken seriously by the police force in light of the Shraddha Walkar murder case.
Pandey unveiled an initiative called “Operation Punha Dhairya” on Friday to make sure of this. Under this, police would monitor the victims to make sure they are secure and will review all complaints, including FIRs, written applications, and even oral complaints, filed by women over the past three years.
On November 23, 2020, Shraddha Walkar, who was murdered in New Delhi by her live-in partner, lodged a written complaint against Aftab Poonawala at the Tulinj police station. She said in her complaint that Poonawala had attempted to kill her and that she was afraid he would dismember her and discard her parts.
The police stated they were unable to conduct an investigation and had to accept the complainant’s requests because she had withdrawn the plea. The father of Walkar claims that his daughter would be alive today if the police had taken the issue properly.
According to Commissioner Pandey, each complainant in one of these cases over the last three years would be summoned by an official and asked if their complaint has actually been settled or still exists. In several instances of domestic violence, abuse, and stalking, the police detain the suspect and provide counselling to both the victim/complainant and the offender. The cops occasionally presume that the issue has been resolved. However, despite the police’s assistance, the issue still exists, according to Pandey.
He also added, “many women say that even after serving a sentence, their husbands have returned and abused them more.”He added that with Operation Punha Dhairya, the victims who are ignored or who suffer the same crime but are unable to report it will get a voice and they would be able to report the crime.
The police will inquire these women about the situation and take appropriate action if they respond that they are still being harassed or assaulted.
According to Pandey, the MBVV region has seen an uptick in crime against women over the previous few years.
2017 saw 1,194 occurrences of crime against women, according to statistics. There were 1,541 instances in 2019 and 1,775 cases in 2021. In contrast, the number of rape cases increased from 176 in 2017 to 220 in 2019 to 292 in 2021. Even the total crime rate in the MBVV region increased from 1,523 instances in 2019 to 2,993 cases in 2021 when compared to the year before the epidemic.
