11-yr-old raped by dad’s friend

According to Police Inspector Thakur of the Oshiwara police station where the complaint has been lodged, the accused Ashok Pandusuma Gaikwad (28) was an acquaintance of the victim’s father Dharma Vithal Chavan (40) a resident of the slums behind Ambamata Mandir, Adarshnagar, Behrambaug, Andheri (West). On Tuesday Ashok, a resident of Versova, had come to meet Chavan who was out on some errand leaving his daughter behind alone.

Ashok told Chavan’s daughter that he would wait till her father returned since he had some urgent work with him. He struck a conversation with the girl. Sensing that Chavan would take long to return, Ashok raped her.

Later, Ashok forcibly dragged the girl out of the house and hired an autorickshaw to Versova creek where he molested her again. The frightened girl managed to scream for help. Hearing the victim’s cries, people in the neighbourhood rushed to her rescue. People gave a chase to the fleeing rapist and nabbed him, the police said. A mobile unit of D N Nagar police which was on patrol rounds nearby was alerted and Ashok along with the victim was then handed over.

The victim then narrated the entire incident to the police and the case was then handed over to the Oshiwara police as the first rape was committed under their jurisdiction.

PI Thakur said that a case of rape and kidnapping under sections 334 and 376 of the Indian Penal Code was lodged against Ashok. He was produced before the Metropolitan Magistrate Andheri today and has been remanded to police custody till December 31, 1997.

Earlier last week, a 22-year-old girl was raped by a 55-year-old ward boy at the LTMG Hospital in Sion. On Sunday, an eleven-year-old maid servant, who had migrated from a remote village in Kota district, Rajasthan had lodged a complaint with the Juhu Police that her 50-year-old employer had raped her a few days ago.