Man molests 21-year-old woman in Malad isolation centre, held

According to a senior BMC official, the culprits are employees of a housekeeping contractor

The Charkop police have registered a case against two people, for attempting to molest a 21-year-old Malad woman in a quarantine centre, after calling her there on the pretext that she had tested positive for COVID-19. One half of the duo was arrested on Sunday. Strangely, the woman and her family, had tested negative earlier at the same centre.

According to the statement given by the complainant to the police, she received a call on her father's mobile phone, where a person claiming to be from the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), informed the family that the girl had tested positive for COVID-19 and needed to be taken to the New Bhoomi Park isolation centre at Jankalayan Nagar, Malad West. "My father was told that an ambulance would pick me up to take me to the isolation centre. On June 13, when the ambulance did not arrive, my father took me to the centre in an auto rickshaw and dropped me off. A person called Amit Tatkare there told me to go to one of the rooms on the sixth floor of the building. I went up. A boy was sanitising the room. Sometime later Tatkare came to the room and told me that I had not tested positive and then tried to force himself on me," the girl told the police in her statement.

The girl and her kin were told to go home on May 30 as they tested negative. Representation pic/Satej Shinde

The incident occurred for the first time on June 13 between 11.30 pm and 12 midnight and later the accused tried to molest her two-three times more. The girl has stated that she would scream and shout and manage to save herself each time, as Tatkare, who appeared drunk, would stop every time she did so. There was no else on the floor. The next morning her mother took her home. But the girl was traumatised that she told her family about the incident only on June 19.

Complaint lodged
The family approached Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) leader Dinesh Salvi and informed him about the incident. Salvi, along with the girl and her family, lodged an FIR on June 20 against Amit Tatkare and Kalpesh (second name not known. But, he is apparently the man who made the call). The police registered a case under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code. On June 21, the police arrested Amit and are looking for Kalpesh.

"One of the accused, who is an employee of a contractor, has been arrested. The police are looking for the second culprit," Vitthal Shinde, Sr PI of Charkop police station, told mid-day. The arrested accused will be produced in court on Monday. A family member of the girl told this paper that the girl's elder sister, who was pregnant, had tested positive on May 14. "She was taken to the Ram Leela ground (Malad) for treatment and quarantine. The rest of the family (mother, father and younger sister) were taken to Bhoomi Park isolation centre on May 15. The swabs of the family were collected on May 26. On May 30, the family was told to go home as the test reports were negative," the family member mentioned.

'Followed instructions'
The family member added that they too were suspicious about the call they received on June 13, which claimed that the younger daughter had tested positive. "But we decided to follow the instructions received over the phone as a precautionary measure as the elder daughter had tested positive," the family member said, when asked why they did not verify the call before going to the centre.

A senior civic official said the culprits are not civic employees and have no connection with the BMC. "Those booked are employees of a house-keeping contractor," the official said and added that BMC has called the contractors to get further clarity on the issue.

Jun 13
Day the incident took place

19
Day in June the girl told her family about the incident

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