): Police and paramilitary personnel deployed at the site after a clash broke out between two groups at Mahal area, in Nagpur on Monday. | ANI
A strange situation is prevailing in Maharashtra. The police in Nagpur have filed an FIR at Ganeshpeth police station against certain persons for molesting and using sexually-laced expletives at a police woman during last week’s riots. However, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, while addressing mediapersons in Nagpur on Saturday, insisted that no police woman was molested. The question being asked in police circles is why would the police woman tell a lie and file an FIR?
Sources said Fadnavis was embarrassed when he read several reports in the media about the molestation of the woman cop and to save the image of the force he issued the denial. The question that now arises is will he take action against the woman cop who filed a “false” FIR? Filing a false FIR is an offence under sections 182 and 211 of the Indian Penal Code and now under section 240 of the new Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita. “Will the government take action against the woman cop for allegedly filing a false FIR?,” a police officer asked on condition of anonymity. “Instead of standing by the police force which bore the brunt of attack by the mob in Nagpur, which is his hometown, the CM is accusing the cops of filing false FIR
According to reports, the woman officer was chased by the mob, molested and abused. Vile abuses were hurled at other women police personnel as well.
Fadnavis also claimed that there was no intelligence failure as alleged by the opposition. If there was no intelligence failure how come the cops in Nagpur were totally caught unawares about the intensity of the violence? The fact is that there was a build up in the social media well before cadres of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) descended on the streets of Mahal demanding the removal of the tomb of Aurangazeb. Last week the VHP had announced its decision to hold protests across Maharashtra. This had reportedly led to preparations by Islamists to retaliate.
A social media post in Nagpur alleged that a “chadar” containing Koranic “ayats” were burnt by the VHP was the trigger which brought well-armed Muslim mobs to the streets. They targeted homes of Hindus in Mahal area, where the RSS headquarters is situated and set fires to cars. The police were singled out for attacks with stones and petrol bombs. The police found themselves vastly outnumbered and ran for cover. All these definitely point to intelligence failure.
The police in the state are increasingly coming in for criticism. Take the case of a minor girl who was allegedly molested in a school at Malad. It took the father several days to just lodge the FIR at Bangur Nagar police station. Even after the registration of the FIR, no action was taken against the accused and finally the victim’s father had to move the Bombay high court. The police’s gross mishandling of the brutal murder of Santosh Deshmukh, sarpanch of Massajog village in Beed district, is well known. It is high time Fadnavis got his act together.
