3 women assaulted, forcibly evicted from home

3 women assaulted, forcibly evicted from home
EXPRESS NEWS SERVICE

Mumbai, July 17: Three women were assaulted and forcibly evicted from their house allegedly with the connivance of officers attached to Oshiwara police station on Sunday afternoon.

A badly bruised Azra Shahid Khan, one of the three victims, told Newsline a 60-strong mob barged into her house at Thakur Estate, Behram Baug under the jurisdiction of Oshiwara police station at around 1.30 pm on Sunday and assaulted her along with her sister and sister-in-law. The three were also dragged out of the house, Azra added.

Azra's sister Rumana was also severely beaten. Sister-in-law Rizwana received nine stitches on her head and had her two fingers fractured.

``When we rushed to the police station, senior inspector P R Mule, instead of taking up the matter, threatened to put us behind bars after abusing us. Duty officer police sub-inspector Anil Patil was soon joined by PSI More and Kathare and advised us not to register a complaint against Mehmood Bakshi, key accused in the case,'' said Azra.

Brother-in-law Shamim Khan said the attack was so well-orchestrated that officers at the police station refused to lift the telephone receiver at around 1.30 pm. ``We were finally forced to dial No 100, after which a police patrol arrived,'' recalled Khan.

The matter came to the fore after the victims met Commissioner of Police M N Singh in his office this evening. A petition has also been forwarded to Minister of State for Home Kripa Shankar Singh this afternoon.

Oshiwara police have finally registered a case (CR No 420/2000) under Sections 326 (eviction), 324 (assault) and 506 (2) (rioting) of IPC. The case was reportedly registered after the home minister's intervention. The accused in the case, Mehmood Bakshi, Aslam Bakshi, Amin Mansoori alias Raju and Hamid are still scot-free, the women alleged.

Apparently, the women owe the accused Rs 25,000 they had borrowed in 1995. However, the accused allegedly wanted to take charge of the room in lieu of the sum and therefore mounted the attack.

It is also being alleged that officers attached to Oshiwara police station earlier visited the house of the victims and threatened them when there were no male members at the place. The officers were never accompanied by women officers or constables.

The neighbourhood under the jurisdiction of Oshiwara police station is a safe haven for Pakistan's Inter Services Intelligence operatives.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (zone VII) Rajinder Singh said he was not aware of the case. ``If they have any problems, they should come to me. I will look into the matter,'' he said.