MUMBAI: Nine days days after her cook attacked her and gave her electric shocks, the traumatised 42-year-old schoolteacher has not stepped out of her Andheri flat. Though Amboli police have arrested the accused, Raju Singh (25), and added the IPC Section 307 (attempt to murder) against him, the victim alleged that they mishandled the case and delayed registration of the FIR by a day, which allowed him to apply for anticipatory bail. Her lawyer, Shreyansh Mithare, alleged that the police neither collected CCTV footage from the building nor applied charges of molestation, criminal intimidation, and sexual harassment against the accused.
“I do not go to work as I am scared that Singh may get out on bail and attack me again. I did not allow my younger son to appear for his mid-term exam too,” the victim told TOI. “I was shocked to find out that the police took the case lightly and initially applied just IPC Section 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) against him.” Singh, who was arrested on September 22, was sent to judicial custody on Tuesday after completion of his five-day police custody. Filmmaker-activist Ashoke Pandit has appealed to deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, who is also home minister, to provide protection to the victim. “I am shocked by the police apathy. The investigation officer was not present when the accused was pr-oduced in court on Tuesday,” he said, adding that they will take up the matter with the women’s rights commission.
The incident took place on September 17, Singh entered the flat with the spare key given to him. “He had come pr-epared. He was wearing gloves and carrying a pincer tool and a wire bundle. He locked the pet dog in a room, put the latch on the bedroom in which the victim’s younger son was sleeping and entered her bedroom and strangled her with the wire till she fell unconscious,” Mithare said. To check wheth-er she was dead, he used the sa-me wire to give her electric shocks. “When she regained consciousness, he sat on her chest and strangled her till she fell unconscious. He kept repeating, ‘Didi thode der sehan kar lo, sab khatam ho jayega’ [Please bear with this for some time, it will be over soon]. He walked to the living room, possibly to harm the son, and got shocked when she ran out behind him,” Mithare said. “Singh started crying and apologised for his act. The victim unlocked her son’s bedroom and told him to get help even as Singh fled.”
“I do not go to work as I am scared that Singh may get out on bail and attack me again. I did not allow my younger son to appear for his mid-term exam too,” the victim told TOI. “I was shocked to find out that the police took the case lightly and initially applied just IPC Section 308 (attempt to commit culpable homicide) against him.” Singh, who was arrested on September 22, was sent to judicial custody on Tuesday after completion of his five-day police custody. Filmmaker-activist Ashoke Pandit has appealed to deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis, who is also home minister, to provide protection to the victim. “I am shocked by the police apathy. The investigation officer was not present when the accused was pr-oduced in court on Tuesday,” he said, adding that they will take up the matter with the women’s rights commission.
The incident took place on September 17, Singh entered the flat with the spare key given to him. “He had come pr-epared. He was wearing gloves and carrying a pincer tool and a wire bundle. He locked the pet dog in a room, put the latch on the bedroom in which the victim’s younger son was sleeping and entered her bedroom and strangled her with the wire till she fell unconscious,” Mithare said. To check wheth-er she was dead, he used the sa-me wire to give her electric shocks. “When she regained consciousness, he sat on her chest and strangled her till she fell unconscious. He kept repeating, ‘Didi thode der sehan kar lo, sab khatam ho jayega’ [Please bear with this for some time, it will be over soon]. He walked to the living room, possibly to harm the son, and got shocked when she ran out behind him,” Mithare said. “Singh started crying and apologised for his act. The victim unlocked her son’s bedroom and told him to get help even as Singh fled.”
