Cops get clean chit

“The allegations made in the newspaper about policemen allegedly forcing girls to strip and dance at the Ashadeep government women’s hostel in Jalgaon are false,” he said. He further noted, “The incident has been thoroughly investigated by a committee of six senior women police officers and others and there is no finding on male police officers entering the hostel. There was a cultural programme organised by the women of the hostel and nothing untoward had occurred.”

According to Deshmukh, as per the information given by those present, there was an entertainment programme on February 20. “Women were singing, dancing, reciting poetr y. During garba, a woman felt inconvenienced by her garba costume and removed it. At that time, there were only women present in the room,” he said. Deshmukh said that the woman who had made such a complaint was, in fact, mentally unstable. He claimed that there had been several complaints about her.

On Wednesday, the ruling and opposition members sparred over the incident based on the newspaper and media reports. BJP legislator Sudhir Mungantiwar claimed the incident was condemnable. He criticised the state government for not taking action. “If our mothers and sisters are not safe and they are being humiliated, then in that case President’s rule is the only option,” he declared. Deshmukh had assured a probe and said the guilty wouldn’t be spared.