Nasik mob on the rampage after alleged rape attempt on 5-yr-old
PUNE: Violence broke out in Nasik district as a protest over an alleged rape attempt on a minor girl on Saturday took a castesit turn the day after.
Around 20 vehicles, including three police vans, were torched and traffic on the busy MumbaiAgra highway was brought to a halt for several hours since morning at the district’s Trimbakeshwar area.
The state is already reeling under a state-wide stir by Marathas over rape and murder of minor girl from the community at Kopardi on July 13.
As the rumour of the girl being raped spread through social networks, a mob of around 2,000 people descended on the highway near Igatpuri at Trimbakeshwar, shouting slogans like ‘Ek Maratha Lakh Maratha’ demanding immediate arrest of the 15-year-old accused.
Police opened two rounds of fire in the air and resorted to mild lathi-charge to control the protesters, who also torched the house of the accused. Several state-transport buses and private vehicles on the highway were vandalized and set ablaze.
Road blockades were also put up in several other points in the district demanding stern action against the accused.
Only after the accused was arrested and doctors clarified that the minor was not raped, the agitators relented and the roads were cleared for traffics in the evening.
Nashik guardian minister Girish Mahajan after visiting the victim at the civil hospital said medical examination of five-yearold girl by four doctors suggest it was a case of attempted rape.
According to police, suspect took the victim to an isolated place at Talegaon in the district’s Trimbakeshwar area on Saturday evening on the pretext of offering her chocolate and attempted to rape her.
Initially, villagers assumed the girl was raped, and that led to a tension in the village, police said.
By morning, protesters demanding stringent action against the suspect staged rasta roko on various routes in the district, prompting the ST department to suspend plying of buses from various depots in the district.
Meanwhile, appealing for clam, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis asked people not to believe in rumours. “The police have acted swiftly and arrested the suspect. I appeal to everyone not to pay heed to rumours,” he said. Nationalist Congress Party chief Sharad Pawar also appealed protesters to stop violence, saying the government had already taken action.