Mumbai shame: Cops rape ragpicker, bar girl in one day

MUMBAI: In what could well be the Maharashtra police���s darkest hour, two shocking incidents of rape committed by constables of the Mumbai and Navi Mumbai police have come to light within the span of a day.

In a virtual replay of the Sunil More episode, a head constable attached to Sahar police station was arrested on Monday night on charges of raping a 15-year-old ragpicker. He had threatened the girl for begging after spotting her at a traffic signal, and led her away even as her family pleaded with him for her release.

Sources said the constable, Chandrakant Pawar (45), was inebriated and even tried to bribe a witness who later found him with the girl near the airport. He has been remanded to police custody until October 25 and served suspension orders.

In the second case, an 18-year-old from West Bengal was raped in her home by a constable who had spotted the woman during a patrol in Sector-8 in Nerul, Navi Mumbai. The incident took place days after several women, suspected of being illegal migrants from Bangladesh, were rounded up from the same area by the police.

In a complaint filed on Tuesday, the girl said the constable, Hamid Nazir Kazi, 34, had barged into her house on October 11, roughed up her husband and sister-in-law before throwing them out, and raped her. He warned her that he had been instructed by his bosses to take action against ���Bangladeshis���.

The former bar girl told the Nerul police that the constable had visited her home again on the following day along with a colleague, Vishwanath Welhe, and had threatened to book her if she did not keep mum about the incident.


���An FIR has been registered on charges of rape,������ Vijay Kamble, commissioner of police, Navi Mumbai, told TOI. Sources said both Kazi and Welhe were absconding. The two incidents have once again focused attention on the excesses and brutalities of the state���s police force, which has a dubious reputation for a high number of custodial deaths.

The rape of the minor ragpicker near the airport was the sixth such case where a Mumbai policeman has been booked for crimes against women this year. Incidentally, Pawar is twice married and has a history of alcohol-related problems. His second wife, who is nine months pregnant, has not been told of the incident.

The rape occurred around 11 pm on Monday night. The victim and her sisters were begging at a traffic signal near the international airport when Pawar, on night patrol duty, accosted her.

He threatened to arrest her for begging and took her away even as her family members pleaded with him, to a garden near the police station premises. It was when he was leading her away after the act that Pawar was spotted by AAI employee Sathyan Nair.

���The moment I saw the constable leading the girl away from the police station, I knew something was fishy,������ Nair told TOI. ���I was on a bike and slowed down to follow them. At Leela hotel, I took a turn and confronted the constable.������

Nair asked Pawar where he was taking the girl and why there wasn���t a female constable around. Pawar faltered and replied he was taking her home.


���The constable���s uniform was muddy and the girl���s clothes were torn. I realised that he was sozzled and collected a few rickshaw drivers, convincing them that we needed to hand him to the police,������ said Nair.

Rape dateline:

April 21, 2005:

Constable Sunil More of Marine Drive police station raped a college student at Marine Drive police chowky. Arrested, now in jail

STATUS: Dismissed from service under Article 311 of constitution, trial under way

MAY 10, 2005:

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Two drunk constables in plain clothes, Subhash More and Suhas More, from Marol Police Training School held at Thane railway station on charges of molesting a woman
STATUS: Suspended from service, trial yet to begin

MAY 31, 2005:

Rukmand Shinde (29), a constable who was a security guard for Jaidev Thackeray, arrested for molesting his sister-in-law
STATUS: Suspended, trial yet to begin

JUNE 15, 2005:

Sub-inspector Sudesh Shinde (46) and a friend Raju Motiwala molest an employee of a Mahim beauty parlour. This is the second case in which Shinde has been booked for molestation
STATUS: Dismissed from service, trial yet to begin

OCTOBER 12, 2005:

Constable Vilas Samant of Shivaji Park police station arrested and booked for molesting and blackmailing a woman
STATUS: Suspended from service, trial yet to begin Sahar constable faces suspension