On Wednesday, Marathi actress Ketaki Chitale who spent 40 days in the police custody for sharing a poem written by someone else allegedly against NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, slammed the state police for being mute spectators when she was being beaten and harassed by the NCP workers. She questioned the entire justice system and said that there was no way anybody could justify whatever happened to her while she was in police custody.
In an exclusive interview with CNN News18, the Marathi actress alleged that she was beaten, abused, and molested during police custody and the police did nothing to protect her from the NCP workers. “I was arrested unlawfully. No prior intimation or notice was served. The police arrived at my doorsteps and they just picked me up. Then I was shifted to the Thane Police custody where the NCP female workers, a mob of around 20 females threw toxic colour at me in the name of ink, they threw eggs, harassed me and molested me in the Police custody”, she said.
She stated that while the NCP workers harassed her, the Police did not take any steps to protect her. “I was molested and I wonder what was the Police doing. The NCP workers beat me and molested me for sharing the words which I had never written. I was wearing a saree, someone pulled it and my pallu fell, then someone pulled the saree away, hit me in my right breast. When they hit me I fell onto the Police car so my saree went up, my pallu fell down and the Police did nothing to stop this all”, she reiterated.
The Marathi actress also slammed the NCP female workers who displayed such behaviour towards another woman. She stated that she didn’t want such people to represent the people in the future. Yesterday, in an interview with Times Now, Chitale had said that no complaint was filed by the Police against the NCP workers and that they were allowed to go even after harassing and molesting her. “The people who molested me were not low-level NCP workers, one of them has plans to contest the upcoming elections. They all are in good positions. They also had hit the Police inside the Police station which is unlawful”, she had said.
Ketaki Chitale who also said that the post she shared was never directed to NCP supremo Sharad Pawar, affirmed on June 29 that she was deliberately targeted by the former MVA-led government. She said that the NCP workers had misused the power and harassed her for sharing a post that was declared as ‘against Sharad Pawar’.
The 29-year-old actress was arrested on May 15 for a Facebook post where she had shared a verse, allegedly written on Pawar, calling him a person who hates Brahmins. Soon after the post was shared, the actress got several cases registered against her under charges of defamation and promoting enmity between two groups. A case under the SC-ST Act had also been filed against her. The cases were filed in multiple police stations in Mumbai and its suburbs.
She was granted relief in the FIRs lodged against her on June 28 when the Bombay High Court ruled that police should not take any coercive action against her. She was charged under sections 500 (defamation), 501 (printing or engraving matter known to be defamatory), 505 (2) (making, publishing, or circulating any statement, rumour, or report promoting enmity, hatred, or ill will between classes), 153 A (spreading disharmony among people), of the Indian Penal Code. The complaints noted that the post was likely to cause conflict between political parties.
