18 December,2010 03:45 AM IST | | Ketan Ranga
Cops say there is a possibility the victim may turn hostile following family pressure to withdraw the case against former cop Arun Borude
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Police do not seem to want to take any chances in the Powai rape case, in which a minor was allegedly raped by four people over a period of time, including former police inspector Arun Borude.
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Having extended police protection to both the victim and her family, they have now put the house, the victim has been consigned to, off-limits to even her immediate kin, fearing they may influence her to retract the case.
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Arun Borude was dismissed from duty and is absconding
The police sent the 15-year-old, and the baby she delivered prematurely two months ago following the incident, to a remand home as she is traumatised.
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But when the family went to meet the girl, the police deployed for the girl's protection did not allow them in, and since then, have been postponing the meeting.
The family members said they had gone to meet her twice and both times they were told they could not see the girl.
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The police did not give them any reason, they said. Although a source in the police department said that cops have enforced this as a precautionary measure until one of the main accused, Borude, is arrested.
"The only reason why the cops disbarred the family from meeting the victim could be that they don't want the parents, who could be under pressure from the accused, to influence or threaten her into withdrawing her accusations against Borude and others," he said.
Social worker Sunil Kajrolkar doesn't agree to the police approach. "We don't know why the family is not allowed to meet the girl. If the cops feel that there is a threat that they may pressurise the girl, then cops can be present during the meeting," he said.
In November, the victim had registered a case alleging that she was raped on several occasions by four men in a flat in suburban Powai. Police had then arrested a woman, Shanta Gaikwad, who had introduced the victim to the alleged accused.
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She had named Mohan Chand, Premchand Shyam (45), Chandrabhan Satyanarayan Gupta (45) and Borude in the case. Borude, dismissed from duty for immoral conduct immediately after, has since been absconding.
The incident came to light after the girl gave birth to a premature baby on October 17, following which she was admitted to Rajawadi Hospital on October 21 with the help of a social worker, who blew the lid off the case.
