Stain on khaki as usual





 

The police have arrested two constables attached to the Mumbra police station for allegedly raping for over three months a 16-year-old girl they rescued from a prostitution racket. The police are investigating if the incident was suppressed by senior police officials.

The 16-year-old's ordeal began in January, when she was pushed into flesh trade by a couple who were using a catering service as a front. The couple approached the girl's mother and promised a steady income if she sent her daughter to work for their company. Unknown to the mother, the couple forced the fatherless girl into prostitution.

A few weeks on, the Mumbra police busted the couple's racket, sources in Thane police said.Shockingly, no case was registered and the couple was let off. Two constables from the raiding party -Kaushal Kakde and Irfan Khan -then started raping the minor, who was forced to continue in the flesh trade.

On March 31, a non-profit organisation that works against trafficking came to know of the couple's racket and tipped off the police. Even this time, the local police did not file a case. The activists had to approach the joint commissioner, after which the Mumbra police registered a case.

Even at this point, the police tried to keep it as a simple case of rescuing a minor from flesh trade.The girl was subsequently sent to a shelter in Vasai. Here, during counselling, she told the activists all about how the two constables raped her for three months, threatening that if they book her for soliciting, she will go to jail for several years. On Tuesday, when the girl was presented in court to record her statement, she narrated her ordeal to the magistrate She named constables Kausha Kakde and Irfan Khan as the two who raped her three months. The two were arrested on Wednesday. The couple Shabhana Sheikh and Mo hammed Shahid Shaeikh from Amrut Nagar -have also been arrested. Speaking to Mirror, sources in the police department said local police officers are under the scanner. They suspect they tried to suppress the issue.“This happened around the time of the Saki Naka model rape case and the local police wanted to avoid a loss of face,“ said an officer. DCP Sachin Patil of Thane city police said, “Investigations revealed many facts and based on that the accused have been arrested. Investigations are on.“