Vasai chowkie assault: Pressure mounts on cops

The Tamil film Jai Bhimlike episode that played out in Vasai last week has started getting wider attention following middayrsquos reports On Friday a senior leader from an opposition party met the six tribal women who were allegedly brutally thrashed by a cop Scores of tribal women had protested outside the Vasai police station on Thursday demanding strict action against the policeman API Vinod WaghAfter the meet the state BJP vice president Chitra Wagh asked the police to record the supplementary statements of all the six women who were allegedly caned mercilessly by API Wagh at Papdi police chowkie on suspicion of them being pickpocketsChitra Wagh vice president of BJP MaharashtraldquoIt is a very sad affair as the tribal women have come to Vasai to earn their livelihood from their village in Kasa They all are completely frightened after they were assaulted by API Vinod Wagh for no reason I met these women today They have told me that after the assault when they walked out of the Papdi police chowkie they were helped by a traffic police officer who got them an autorickshaw to send them to a hospitalrdquo Chitra Wagh told middayldquoThe medical report also says that these women were batoncharged Now the police have to say that they recorded the statement of the vegetable vendors who told the police in their statement that no one was caned at the police chowkierdquo she saidFour of the assaulted tribal women in Vasai on Friday PicHanif PatelThe BJP leader said API Wagh bundled the tribal women into an autorickshaw and brought them to police chowkie ldquoHe dragged them and bolted the door from inside at the oneroom chowkie Where are the vegetable vendors or complainant in the frame of this entire episoderdquo she wonderedldquoI believe that the vegetable vendors have been forced to give false statements as they have to run their business at the mercy of the police API Wagh has also apologised to the tribal women It proves that he has committed the offence and admitted his own mistakerdquo she addedChitra Wagh also met the zonal Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjay Kumar Patil and asked him to record the supplementary statement of tribal womenldquoI have told the DCP to record supplementary statements of victims so that the minute details of the incident can come on record These pieces of information will be very much essential for the registration of an FIRrdquo she saidInvoking the anniversary of the Mumbai terror attacks the BJP leader said ldquoToday is a very important day for Maharashtra and we are blessed to have senior officer Sadanand Date as the commissioner of Mira BhayandarVasai Virar He played a very active role in 2611 Mumbai attacks and we expect fair investigation into the matterrdquoldquoThe incident has maligned the image of khaki so this must be cleaned with immediate effect I see this incident as a state level as there are many police chowkie where the women officers have not been deployed So I will definitely expect the state government to ensure that women officers are deployed at each police chowkierdquo she addedA senior police officer told midday that the statement of the traffic police officer who helped the tribal women getting an autorickshaw to reach hospital will be recordedldquoWe are piecing together the evidence related to the alleged incident before submitting our inquiry report to senior officersrdquo said an officer privy to the ongoing departmental probe