Watchman, ward boy rape mentally ill girl in Pune

In an incident hauntingly similar to that of Aruna Shanbaug, a 30-year-old mentally ill woman was raped by the watchman and ward boy of a state-run hospital in Pune, where she was admitted. Yogesh Joshi reports.

A 30-year-old mentally ill woman was raped by the watchman and ward boy of a government-run hospital in Pune where she was admitted.

According to the police, the woman was admitted to Bhosari Civic Hospital, run by Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation, on Friday for viral fever.

On Saturday evening, she was in the hospital lift when 28-year-old watchman Pramod Manohar Mandekar and 30-year-old ward boy Shailesh Jadhav raped her.

The case brought back memories of the 1973 assault on a nurse Aruna Shanbaug by a ward boy in a Mumbai hospital. Shanbaug has been in a vegetative state since the brutal rape.

The police have lodged a case under Section 376 of the Indian Penal Code based on the woman’s complaint and arrested both the accused.

"The accused stopped the lift on ground floor and raped her in the evening when no one was around," said senior police inspector SD Kakane. He said the survivor lives in a women's home run by an NGO.

According to the complaint filed by the woman, the watchman raped her while the ward boy helped him, said assistant police commissioner SD Shelar. The police are now waiting for the medical report for a clearer picture.