25 more fast track courts in Maha, more rape cases surface

Twenty-five fast-track courts are proposed to be set up in Maharashtra for time-bound disposal of serious crimes against women, as more rape victims in several states turned out to report sexual assault.

A mentally challenged woman, a commercial sex worker and a teenaged girl were among the rape victims from Maharashtra, Bihar, Gujarat and Mahdya Pradesh.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan has given an in-principle consent to the proposal for 25 more fast-track courts and the government will approach the Bombay high court to seek its nod, Home Minister R R Patil said in Mumbai on Thursday.

The move by the state government came in the wake of a spurt in incidents of rape and harassment of girls in various parts of Maharashtra and also against the backdrop of demands for speedy measures to hand out punishment to rape convicts following the Delhi gang-rape incident.

"In Maharashtra, there are 100 fast track courts for speedy disposal of criminal cases. We will approach the Bombay high court to earmark 25 of these courts exclusively for serious crimes against women. We feel that if dedicated courts are set up, it would certainly help in reducing violence against women," Patil said.

Patil also announced that the police would step up their drive against tinted films on windowpanes of vehicles.    

In Maharashtra, a 23-year-old mentally challenged woman was allegedly raped by her uncle and cousin at Lonighat village of Beed, police said. Both the accused have been arrested, they said.

A case was registered against the accused -- Chintaman Kalyan Jadhav and his son Ganesh Chintaman Jadhav-- in this regard on December 24 after the victim's mother lodged a complaint.

Following the complaint, the woman was sent to Beed Civil Hospital for medical examination, which confirmed rape, assistant police inspector Sayyed Asef said.

"We arrested Chintaman Kalyan Jadhav, who is the victim's uncle, on Monday and produced him in a Beed court, which sent him in police custody till December 31," Asef said.

His son and the other accused in the case, Ganesh Jadhav, was on the run, but was nabbed on Wednesday. He was also produced in court, which remanded him in police custody till January 1, Asef added.

In Gujarat, a 22-year-old commercial sex worker was allegedly gang-raped by at least ten persons at Bamroli area of Surat, police said.

Seven of the ten persons allegedly involved in the Surat crime that occurred on Tuesday have been detained, police said.

"The detainees will be formally arrested by on Thursday evening after completion of gathering of evidence and paper work", Assistant Commissioner of Police ('F' Division) V V Rathod told PTI.

He said while the detainees are locals, three others who are at large hailed from Orissa.

According to the police, the victim, a resident of Variyaavi Bazaar area, struck a deal with two bike-borne accused for a sum of Rs 2,000 on Tuesday night.

She told the Pandesara police, who are investigating the case, that the duo took her to a slum colony in Bamroli, where two more persons joined them who summoned six of their aides to join them in the crime.

The woman said an auto-rickshaw driver who tried to rescue her from the accused was thrashed by them.

The police said though the girl initially managed to give her tormentors the slip, she was caught and raped.

After the crime, the woman called up her acquaintance from her locality, who shifted her and the auto driver to Surat civil hospital and informed the police, Rathod said. He said the condition of the woman was stable and she was discharged from the hospital after medical examination.

In another incident, a young woman was allegedly raped by a man at a field in Rajpura village of Rajgarh district in Madhya Pradesh, police said.

The victim, aged 22, daughter of a farmer, had gone to the field on Tuesday where she was allegedly raped by a person, identified as Ramesh Kumar Ahriwa, 32, who fled after committing the crime, they said.

On returning home, the victim informed her parents about the crime, following which the latter approached the police who sent her for a medical examination.

A case has been registered and a search is on to nab the accused.

In Bihar, a teenaged girl vacationing at her maternal grandmother's village was gang-raped allegedly by three men in Patna district. The incident occurred in Chhoti Kewai village two days ago, police sources said. A case has been registered against the three on the complaint of the victim, they said. The victim was medically examined at a hospital in Patna and a report is awaited, sources said.