Woman raped, brutalised in Mumbai succumbs – Hindustan Times

A 32-year-old woman who was raped and brutalised with an iron rod in Mumbai died while undergoing treatment at a hospital in the wee hours of Saturday, police said.

According to Mumbai deputy commissioner Maheshwar Reddy, the police control room received a phone call at 3.20am on Friday, informing them about an injured couple in the city’s Sakinaka area. On reaching the spot, the police found a woman, who was bleeding profusely, inside a parked tempo.

“The police officers drove the tempo [in which the woman was found] and rushed her to the Rajawadi Hospital,” Mumbai police commissioner Hemant Nagrale said.

Police arrested a 45-year-old pavement dweller in connection with the crime on Friday itself, after he was spotted exiting the tempo in CCTV footage, officials familiar with the matter said. He was remanded to police custody till September 21. He has been booked under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) Sections 302 (murder), 376 (rape), 323 (assault) and 34 (common intention).

Police said they were yet to ascertain the motive behind the crime.

“As the victim was unconscious, her statement could not be recorded. Therefore, police are as yet clueless about what exactly happened. But it will be ascertained during the investigation, Nagrale said.

The crime bore resemblance to the December 16, 2012 Delhi gang rape case, in which a woman was assaulted and brutalized in a moving bus. She died about two weeks later in a hospital in Singapore where she was taken for emergency treatment. The incident outraged the entire nation and triggered street protests and candlelight vigils across the country, eventually leading to tougher punishment for crimes against women.

Six suspects were arrested for the crime, one of whom was alleged to have committed suicide in jail. Another, a juvenile, was convicted of rape and murder and given the maximum sentence of three years imprisonment in a reform facility under the Juvenile Justice Act. The other four were hanged to death in March, 2020.

Calling the Sakinaka incident, a “blot on humanity”, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray said in a statement: “The rape and subsequent death of a woman in the Sakinaka area is an act of disgrace to humanity and the perpetrator will be severely punished. In this regard, I have also spoken to the home minister of the state. The trial in the case will be held on a fast track and the victim will get justice,” he said in a statement.

Leader of Opposition in the state Devendra Fadnavis demanded capital punishment for the guilty. “I know that awarding a sentence is in the hands of the judiciary. But I feel the culprit in the Sakinaka rape should be hanged to death,” the BJP leader said.

Fadnavis also questioned the state government over what he called an increase in crimes against women. “If we look at the record of a month, the cases of rapes and gang rapes are increasing in the state, the state government need to take action now,” he added.

When asked as to how the crime occurred while there was heavy police bandobast due to the Ganesh Chaturthi festival, Nagrale responded stating that it was not possible to be present everywhere at all times. He however claimed that as soon as the crime was reported a police team reached the spot within ten minutes.