Take all complaints by women seriously: MBVV police commissioner

Mumbai: In the backdrop of the Shraddha Walkar murder case, the Mira-Bhayander-Vasai-Virar (MBVV) police commissioner Madhukar Pandey has decided that all complaints filed by women, even if it seems “trivial”, must be taken seriously by the police department

Mumbai: In the backdrop of the Shraddha Walkar murder case, the Mira-Bhayander-Vasai-Virar (MBVV) police commissioner Madhukar Pandey has decided that all complaints filed by women, even if it seems “trivial”, must be taken seriously by the police department.

HT Image

In order to ensure this, Pandey introduced a project called ‘Operation Punha Dhairya’ on Friday. Under this, all complaints, including FIRs, written applications and even oral complaints made by women over the past three years would be revisited and police will follow up with the victims to ensure they are safe.

Shraddha Walkar, who was killed by her live-in partner in New Delhi, had filed a written complaint to Tulinj police station on November 23, 2020, against Aftab Poonawala. In her complaint, she said that Poonawala tried to kill her and she feared he would cut her into pieces and throw her away.

She had taken the application back due to which the police claimed they could not investigate the matter and had to respect the wishes of the complainant. According to Walkar’s father, had the police followed up on the case seriously, his daughter would have lived today.

Commissioner Pandey said that complainant in each of such case over the past three years would be called individually by the officials and would be asked if their complaint was actually resolved or persists, “In several cases of marital disputes, abuse, stalking, the police arrest the accused and counsel the victim/complainant and the perpetrator. Sometimes the police assume that the problem is solved. But even after the police intervention, the problem persists,” said Pandey.

“Many women say that even after serving a sentence, their husbands have returned and abused them more,” said Pandey who added that with Operation Punha Dhairya, the victims who get ignored or suffer the same crime and are unable to report it, will get a voice and they would be able to get justice.

These women would be asked for the status of their problem and if they convey that they are still being harassed or abused, the police will take necessary action.

Pandey has observed that over the past several years, crime against women has seen an increase in the MBVV region.

As per the statistics on crime against women, the year 2017 witnessed 1,194 cases. 2019 saw 1,541 cases and the year 2021 saw 1,775 cases. Whereas the cases of rape have gone up from 176 cases in 2017 to 220 cases in 2019 to 292 cases in 2021. Even the overall crime in the MBVV area compared to the pre-pandemic year rose to 2,993 cases in 2021 from 1,523 cases in 2019.