Man who raped teen in Ulhasnagar held

The incident took place in Ulhasnagar; the 30-year-old accused, Shrikant Gaikwad, arrested early on Sunday

The 30-year-old man accused of assaulting a teen with a hammer and raping her in a shanty in Ulhasnagar was arrested late Saturday evening, the police have said. The girl was with her two friends when the accused, Shrikant Gaikwad, 30, a labourer, accosted her and hit her on the head with a hammer. He threatened her friends and dragged her to a shanty near Ulhasnagar Railway Station.

The incident took place on Friday night. The Kalyan Government Railway Police (GRP) are investigating the case and have arrested the accused, as the shanty where the crime allegedly took place falls under their jurisdiction.

Prima facie investigation revealed that the accused forcibly removed the victim’s scarf, and repeatedly assaulted her when she tried to free herself from his grip. She eventually managed to escape from the shanty early on Saturday. The family approached the police who directed them to the GRP as the crime scene came under the latter’s jurisdiction. Gaikwad was arrested from Shri Ram Chowk area in Ulhasnagar and booked under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the POCSO Act for rape and kidnapping.

He was produced in a local court which remanded him in police custody till Tuesday. The incident has further shaken citizens’ confidence in the police machinery and questions are being raised about women’s safety in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region and adjoining areas.

The Ulhasnagar incident comes at a time when citizens are demanding a strong action against the accused in the rape and murder of a 34year-old woman, who was raped inside a stationary tempo in Saki Naka in the early hours of Friday, and who died while being treated in hospital the next day.