Bhumata Brigade leader Trupti Desai, who was in the news for her campaign to gain entry into the Shani Shingnapur temple’s inner sanctum, assaulted a youth in broad daylight for reportedly making false promises of marriage to a girl.
The incident took place on Nagar road on Wednesday when Ms. Desai beat up the youth with her sandals amid high drama.
According to her, the youth, Shrikant Londhe had sexual relations with a girl for several months on the false promise of marriage. The two were employed with the manufacturing major, Jabil Circuit India, at Ranjangaon MIDC, where Shrikant was working as an engineer and the girl as a helper.
“When the girl bought her case to us, we immediately called up the boy’s father. His family further refused to accept the girl on grounds of caste, stating vaguely that the girl would be paid money to recompense her. It was then we decided the boy should be taught a lesson,” Ms. Desai told The Hindu .
The activist advised the girl to call Shrikant to Shikrapur chowk on Nagar Road on the pretext of giving her bank account number, where the money was to be deposited. The youth was then surrounded by Ms. Desai and her fellow activists and administered a sound trashing, according to Ms.Desai.
“We fully respect the due process of law. But in this case, the boy’s family had been utterly callous to the girl’s plight. No one was willing to listen to the girl and the boy’s family turned a deaf ear despite our repeated intervention,” Ms. Desai said.
An FIR against Londhe was later lodged under sections 376 (rape) and 313 (miscarriage without woman’s consent) under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) at the Shikrapur police station.
The Bhumata Brigade leader further alleged that the boy had had illicit affairs with a couple of other girls by luring them on the false pretext of marriage in the past.
