Sakinaka rape and murder: Political outrage continues in Mumbai

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Republican Party of India on Sunday held protests in Mumbai’s Powai area over the brutal rape and death of a 32-year-old woman in Sakinaka

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Republican Party of India on Sunday held protests in Mumbai’s Powai area over the brutal rape and death of a 32-year-old woman. A team of National Commission for Women (NCW) met the family members of the woman who was brutalised with an iron rod in the wee hours of Friday.

The Sakinaka rape and murder case has been fast-tracked by the police, who have apprehended the accused – a 45-year-old man hailing from Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, amid political outrage in Mumbai. (Anshuman Poyrekar/HT PHOTO)

Slamming the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) government, leader of opposition in the legislative council Pravin Darekar said the patience of women has run out due to such “repeated” offences, which occur due to “carelessness of the government”.

The five-member team also visited the spot where the crime took place. The woman died on Saturday during treatment at a city hospital. The NCW on Saturday took suo moto cognisance of the crime and said they would start a probe into the incident.

The BJP leader said such incidents have occurred in several parts of the state and demanded that the MVA government should take steps to curb them. Darekar said women in the city are scared for their safety and demanded an action plan from the state government to stop such crimes. Sheetal Gambhir Desai, Mumbai head of the BJP women’s wing, spearheaded a protest in Powai on Sunday afternoon. RPI workers also held a protest in the city.

“The patience of Mumbaiites has ran out now. The women in the city are scared after the incident,” he said, adding that if any such crimes happen again, the Opposition will solely hold the state responsible. “The incident has only happened due to the carelessness of the government. We want an action plan for such crimes to not happen in the future. Rape incidents have happened in Pimpri-Chinchwad, Pune, Amravati, Ahmednagar, Palghar and Vasai where women were brutalised. Now the Sakinaka incident is chilling; it is as gruesome as Nirbhaya,” Darekar said.

On Saturday, chief minister Uddhav Thackeray termed the Sakinaka rape incident a “blot on humanity”. The case has been fast-tracked by the police, who have apprehended the accused – a 45-year-old man hailing from Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh.