On December 5, Maharashtra Police arrested an individual named Saif Ali Saleem for raping a 14-year-old Hindu Adivasi girl from Patan town of Satara district. The accused sexually assaulted the victim twice in the year and shot videos on his phone. The Police registered an FIR against the accused under the relevant sections of the society.
According to the local reports, the accused, a resident of the Pethshivapur region of Patan lured the Adivasi girl, a resident of Morgiri, Patan, by saying that he was in love with her. He then forcefully took her to a hotel in September of this year and established sexual relations with her without her will and permission.
Later on November 14, the accused again trapped her behind her school in Morgiri and raped her brutally. He also shot videos of the girl and uploaded them on social media platforms. The accused before executing the crime made the girl believe that he liked her and that he was madly in love with her.
The girl who studies in 9th in a school at Morgiri said in the complaint letter that the accused raped her in November after her school, at around 5 pm. The Police immediately arrested the accused after the victim filed the complaint on December 5 and sought his remand for further investigation. According to the Police, the accused didn’t respond well to the interrogation and failed to provide any information regarding the crime.
The Police document reveals that the accused is 26 years old and is a resident of the Pethshivapur area of Patan city. The residents of Patan protested against the accused after the incident came to the fore by closing the shops and shutting the market for 24 hours. The residents have demanded strict action against the accused and justice for the 14-year-old girl from the adivasi community. Earlier this year, a case of a tribal minor was raped and murdered in Maharashtra’s Jawahar taluka.
Meanwhile, the lawyer’s association in the district has also condemned the incident and has decided that no lawyer would take up the case of the accused in the Courtroom. “We’ll help the victim get justice, but no lawyer would take up the case of the accused who abused and raped the minor,” said the president of the association Adv Prashant Mane.
Also, the Hindu community in the district have planned a protest march across the city on December 13 and has demanded strict action against the accused. The accused in the case have been arrested and booked under the relevant sections of the law. Further investigations into the case are underway.
