The Maharashtra government has decided to fast-track the recent double-murder case in the city, in which two youths were brutally stabbed. The incident has sent shock waves in the city, Bharatiya Janata Party leader L.K. Advani calling it “a national shame” on Saturday.
“We will send the case to a fast-track court and appoint a prosecutor of the family's choice,” State Home Minister R.R. Patil said on Saturday.
The city that never sleeps, usually considered safe for women at all hours, received a cruel jolt last month when Keenan Santos (24) and Reuben Fernandez (29) were fatally stabbed after they confronted a bunch of miscreants for passing lewd comments at their women friends. The incident has given vent to a campaign against eve-teasing and sexual harassment of women and galvanised opinion against the menace.
Four people have been arrested for murder and assault and 17 for rioting. The incident took place on the night of October 20, on a bustling street in Amboli, in suburban Andheri. The duo and their friends were assailed by armed men amidst a mob of onlookers.
While Keenan died the same night, Reuben succumbed to his injuries on October 31. The duo, along with their friends Avinash Solanki, Benjamin Fernandez (Reuben's brother), Priyanka Fernandes and two other women friends, had been to the neighbourhood restaurant for dinner. India was playing England in the third ODI.
“We came out after the match around 10.30 p.m.,” said Benjamin. “We were hanging around outside near a paanwallah. This group of men were eyeing the girls. There were four of them. They passed lewd comments. So we told them to get out from there. They continued, saying, ‘ Ladki ke saamne hero banta hai? [You're trying to act brave to impress the girls?]' and started hurling abuses. They threatened sexual assault. So, we thrashed them,” he told The Hindu .
The group then left, onlyto return with weapons and a mob of around 20 persons. “We were facing the restaurant. The girls were facing the street. They saw them first and started to scream,” said Benjamin.
The four friends had no time to react. “They stabbed Keenan first. Then, Reuben came forward. They hit me with a bamboo stick on my head and I fell to the ground. I saw Keenan fall on his back. One attacker pressed him down with his knee, looked him in the eye, and stabbed him squarely in the chest. That's the stab that took Keenan's life,” said Benjamin.
“Two of them had knives — the ones you use to crack open coconuts, another had a cricket stump and the fourth a bamboo,” Avinash told The Hindu . Keenan was bleeding profusely and his entrails had spilled out. “I put them back, tied his waist and with the help of a restaurant staff rushed him to the hospital.”
No help
“Around 25 people from the restaurant were watching. I could hear cries from the crowd saying ‘Maro! Maro! [Hit them! Hit them!]' None came forward to help,” recalled Avinash.
Precious time was lost as the control room number 100, which the girls were frantically dialling, was continuously engaged.
The entire street has sealed its lips after the incident. The paanwallah outside the restaurant, who has given his statement to the police, told The Hindu that he would not be able to identify anyone. “They [attackers] were not from this area. How can I identify them? There was a huge crowd. Don't know who did what. If it were just a fight with hands and legs, one can intervene, but who wants to take a chance when knives are involved?”
The scene of crime is a boulevard, at the head of which is a traffic signal, and is lined with a row of buildings, a mall, coffee and gelato shops, and the restaurant. Staff at the coffee outlet refused to speak and said the manager was on leave. The same was echoed by the restaurant staff. “We are not allowed to say anything,” a woman attendant at restaurant told The Hindu .
The restaurant has also claimed that the CCTV cameras fitted outside the outlet were not working. As a result, “we don't have any footage of the incident,” senior police inspector V.D. Bhoite said.
However, with 40 witnesses under their belt, the police believe they have a “watertight” case.
After days of dazed shock, Priyanka (19), Keenan's girlfriend, has decided to overcome her fears. “Aren't women safe anymore? Should we be just be sitting at home? We should speak up against harassment or else such incidents will keep happening. Even if women complain I don't think the police listen. On the contrary, they shift the blame onto the women, saying they may have offered provocation in some way. What really hurts is that everyone knows us in this area, but no one came to help. We were begging for help.”
The two other girls wished to remain anonymous.
“Women are harassed openly on the streets,” said Benjamin. “We need a stringent law and punishment for such criminals. Politicians should pull up their socks and work to make the city safe. Once a message goes out, small incidents of harassment won't be tolerated. The more we tolerate, the more lives would be lost. Our attackers were openly teasing the women. They had no fear of law. They were brazenly brandishing the knives.
“This has always been a safe neighbourhood. I grew up here, but I did not know such people lived here.”
The incident has spawned several Facebook pages in the name of Keenan and Reuben with thousands of hits. An initiative called ‘Zero Tolerance Campaign' went viral from the word go with the online community voicing angry protests and showing solidarity with the cause.
The campaign's online petition to the State government, which had clocked 9,484 signatures at the time of writing this article, calls for strengthening of the Indian Penal Code Sections 354 and 509, related to outraging the modesty of a woman.
“We usually take pride in us being Mumbaikars and the city being safe as far as women are concerned. But sexual harassment is a less talked about subject, that afflicts 50% of the population. It is a known fact, that every woman…has suffered this indignation at some point in time and so much so that most of them silently bear this humiliation. It has become impossible for women to move freely without a constant worry and a deeply ingrained fear…We call on the government to strengthen sections 354 and 509 of the IPC by making them both cognizable and non-bailable offences as has been on the anvil,” the petition states.
Home Minister Mr. Patil said the State had already sent a proposal to the Centre requesting it to strengthen the IPC Sections by lengthening the period of incarceration. It has also asked for making Section 354 a non-bailable offence. At present, Maharashtra has the highest number of women in the police though “we feel the scarcity of women police officers”, said Mr. Patil.
Calm wrecked
A pall of gloom hangs over the small and quiet Christian settlement where the two youths resided. There is disbelief that such a “barbaric” act could take place in Mumbai.
The last memory Keenan's brother Shane (18) has of his brother is a fight they had had two months back. “Then I said sorry to Keenan and he started crying. That's what I remember,” Shane said.
Reuben's brother Benjamin recalls with a smile how his brother would cuddle him every morning and pester him routinely. “I would wait for him to come home in the night and he would wait for me. We were very close,” he said. Reuben's parents are struggling to come to terms with their son's tragic end.
Discontent
Meanwhile, there is discontent in the nearby Valmiki Nagar, from where the police picked up 17 persons for rioting, including the four main accused in a crackdown. Residents alleged that many “innocent persons” were summarily whisked away in a nightly combing operation.
“One flower seller, who was sleeping and had nothing to do [with the incident], was taken away,” said Ishwar Pawar, a resident of Valmiki Nagar.
“The police took people away randomly, even those they spotted on the street,” said another resident.
Twenty-one accused are currently in judicial custody. The four main accused, Jitendra Rana, Sunil Bote, Satish Dulgaj and Deepak Tival have been booked under IPC Sections 302 (murder), 307 (attempt to murder), 324 (voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means) and 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of a common intention). On Friday, they were given judicial custody till November 18.
