A week goes by, still no action

Top cops say inquiry against police officer not finished yet

Eight days after MiD DAY reported that brothel owners and rescued sex workers -- minors among them -- were both sent to the Rescue Foundation Home in Hadapasar on instructions given by Senior Police Inspector Venkat Gangalwad of the Faraskhana police station, it was revealed that no action had been taken against the police officer yet.


Just not done: Rescued sex workers and brothel owners were sent to
the Rescue Foundation Home for the night on October 20, which could
have given the traffickers a chance to influence their victims. File pics

The wrong decision taken by the officer may have resulted in giving brothel madams enough time to influence the flesh trade victims so that they would not open their mouths against them.

Top police officers yesterday said they were conducting an inquiry into the matter.
"The inquiry is on in this matter, we will be only able to speak when the report is ready," said DCP (Zone I) Dnyaneshwar Phadatare.

Commissioner of Police Meeran Chadha Borwankar also said that inquiries were on in all DCP zones where insensitive behaviour by police officers in crimes against women had been alleged and that she could not say anything till the reports were submitted.

MiD DAY had pointed out that that it was the duty of the police to make the sex workers feel safe, but they were left to spend the night huddled up in a rescue home along with the very traffickers responsible for forcing them into the flesh trade.

But the Faraskhana police saw nothing wrong in it, and Gangalwad, the man in charge of Faraskhana police station, had at the time said, "The girls were staying with them (accused) for so many days, what is wrong if they stayed with them for some more hours?"Instead of the police lock-up, brothel owner Gauri Kancha Tamang and Reshma Tamang were sent to the remand home with the rescued sex workers.

Gangalwad later claimed that he had instructed the Rescue Foundation authorities to keep the sex workers and brothel owners separately, which was denied by the authorities running the Rescue Foundation Home.
The Rescue Foundation authorities said the police had told them they were sending only victims to the shelter.