Mumbai: COVID centre cleaner nabbed for molesting 17-year-old patient

In yet another case of sexual abuse inside a quarantine centre a 20yearold sanitation worker of a unit in Mankhurd molested a 17yearold patient during the wee hours of Tuesday After the authorities of the COVID care centre informed the local cops the accused mdash Deepak Salvi mdash was booked and later arrested The agency that sent him to the centre has been firedSpeaking on condition of anonymity a police officer said The accused went to the victims room around 3 am on Tuesday while she was sleeping He woke her up and started touching her inappropriately When the girl opposed it he slapped herThe officer further said that when the victim started screaming he fled from the spot However when she narrated the incident to the authorities they immediately informed the Mankhurd cops As soon as we were informed the accused was booked and arrested He is currently in police custody said Prakash Chougule senior inspector of Mankhurd police stationThe incident took place in the wee hours of Tuesday PicRajesh GuptaState BJP vice president Chitra Wagh visited the quarantine centre on Tuesday afternoon and spoke to the authorities and the cops Since the past four months we have been requesting the government to lay down a standard operating procedure for women in quarantine centres No men should be allowed on the floors where women are quarantined Strict action should be taken in such incidents but the government and municipal corporations are turning a blind eye We should blacklist agencies whose employees commit such acts as in most of the cases workers of quarantine centres are involved Nothing is happening on groundAlso ReadMumbai man rapes fiance posts videos and photos online and threatens to kill herAgency removedSpeaking to midday assistant municipal commissioner of M East ward Sudhanshi Dwivedi said The cleaner has been charged under the POCSO Act Home guards are on duty and the patients have been asked to call the doctors and nurses when needed We give the contact numbers of the doctors to the patients during admission The cleaner had come through Ekta Samajik Sangstha We have removed the agency and have issued a show cause notice for blacklisting it He added that a different agency had been appointed in its placeQuestioning the lack of safety at civicrun units BJP leader Kirit Somaiya said It is shocking that a sanitisation worker goes to the 13th floor and molests a young girl at a COVID care centre I visited the centre and have demanded strict action against the contractor and BMC officialsSimilar casesIn July this year a 25yearold patient had raped a 40yearold woman at a quarantine centre in Panvel It was a really unfortunate incident and to ensure that it doesnt happen again we placed CCTV cameras in the corridor said Sudhakar Deshmukh commissioner of Panvel Municipal Corporation Male and female patients have been assigned different floors he added A similar incident had taken place at a quarantine centre in MiraBhayandar A 20yearold had complained to the Navghar police that a worker of the centre raped her thrice which led to her getting pregnant Civic chief of MiraBhayandar Municipal Corporation Dr Vijay Rathod said We have started following a strict protocol in quarantine centres We have also appointed more women workers in the wards or floors where women patients have been quarantined Also CCTV cameras have been placed at the entrance of the wardsKeep scrolling to read more newsCatch up on all the latest Mumbai news crime news current affairs and a complete guide from food to things to do and events across Mumbai Also download the new midday Android and iOS apps to get latest updates MidDay is now on Telegram Click here to join our channel middayinfomedialtd and stay updated with the latest news