34-yr-old was attacked when he tried to stop the men; he went to the police station to complain, but was charged with assault instead, and killed by the goons on his way back
A 34-year-old was attacked with stones and stabbed to death in Virar for trying to stop a few youths from harassing girls. On Monday evening, Shashi Jha was visiting a coaching centre run by his brother-in-law, when he noticed that five youths were passing lewd comments aimed at some girls who were heading home after their classes. Shashi asked them to stop, but they attacked him instead.
The victim, Shashi Jha (left), had tried to intervene when he saw five goons harassing some female students leaving this coaching centre, run by his brother-in-law, Bhaskar Jha. Pics/Hanif Patel
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'No one helped'
According to Bhaskar Jha, Shashi’s brother-in-law, several local residents were present while the goons were beating up Shashi, but none of them came forward to help. An injured Shashi immediately went to Virar police station to file a molestation complaint against the goons.
But he found no help there either, as the police refused to register the complaint. Instead, the police charged him for assaulting the five goons. “The same evening, when Shashi was returning home from the police station, the same group of people assaulted him again.
They threw stones at him and then stabbed him with in his chest and stomach. My brother died on the spot,” said Bhaskar, who added that the police withdrew the charges against Shashi, and filed a murder case against the culprits.
But when the family saw that the police had not taken any other action, they took Shashi’s body to the police station and waited there for three hours, until two of the youths were arrested.
The arrested accused have been identified as Naria Katkar (19) and Vishnu Bandivka (19), while three of their associates are still absconding. The accused live in the same locality where the incident took place, and are involved in construction work, according to the police.
“A similar incident had occurred last week as well, when some of our students were harassed. I went to the police, but they didn’t take any action. Now I have lost my brother-in-law for trying to fight crime. Police should take serious action against those youths,” said Bhaskar.
Girls who attend classes at the coaching centre alleged that they have been harassed and followed by the youths several times, but no one helped them. They said that even after they complained to their teacher, the police did not take any action.
Cop speak
Senior Inspector Sunil Mane said, “The coaching class owner said that the students had been molested, but we did not register any case. We have not received a single complaint from the girls themselves, and we can only register a complaint based on their statement, not Bhaskar’s. We will now talk to all the girls.”
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