On January 25, Maharashtra Police filed an FIR against a person named Wahid Shahabuddin Mahabir for abusing, harassing, and threatening a minor Hindu girl in the Rajarampuri area of Kolhapur district, Maharashtra. The accused also is said to have physically assaulted the brother of the victim.
According to the FIR copy obtained by OpIndia, the victim is 16 years old and is a resident of the Daulatnagar area of Rajarampuri. She studies in the 11th Science stream at Rajaram College. The victim girl in the FIR mentioned that the accused had been keeping a watch on her for the past two years and that he deliberately began calling on the home telephone to develop a ‘friendship’ with her.
“I was in 10th when one day he called our home telephone. My father was away in the field. He knew that my father would not be home at that time and so he called to talk to me. He continued this for several days. I didn’t tell anybody as I thought my father would forbid me from going to school. Later he began meddling on my way to school and harassing me. He used to smile and follow me on my way to the school,” she said.
The victim then sought help from her parents who warned Wahid to stay away from their daughter. But Wahid, who is also a resident of the Daulatnagar area continued to terrify the minor. A year later, the victim happened to join Rajaram College for further education. The accused continued to harass her on her way to college as well. He also used to sit outside her lecture hall in the college and observe her.
On January 25, the accused identified as Wahid followed the victim when she was on her way to the college. He asked her to stop and said that he wanted to talk to her. “I was with my friends. We did not stop. He was continuously following us on a bike. He said that he wanted to talk to me. We were already terrified,” the victim said.
According to the FIR, the accused then proposed to the victim and said that he liked her and that he wanted to marry her. He forced the victim to respond and also said that if her family had any problem with their ‘relation’ he would abduct her and then marry her. All this happened when the victim was still on her way to the college. She refused to stop and respond while the accused proposed to her for marriage.
Later the accused got enraged and said, “I will see you. You meet me at the college.” He then forcefully held her hand and again asked her to marry him, forcing her to respond. The victim further mentioned in the FIR that the accused followed her even after college. “At around 4:30 pm, after the college, he again followed me and raced his bike against me. I did not stop. He then abused me and used abusive words for me. I told him that I would lodge a Police complaint against him. But he threatened me saying that even if he goes to jail, he wouldn’t spare me. He said he would follow me after his probable release from jail,” the victim noted.
The victim’s brother was on the same way on January 25 and witnessed how Wahid was abusing and harassing the victim. The accused then also physically assaulted the victim’s brother who rushed on the spot to save his sister. “People gathered around seeing that my brother was being badly beaten. Wahid then took his bike and absconded from the spot,” the victim added in the FIR.
The FIR has been registered under IPC sections 354 D, 323, 504 and 506. The accused has also been booked under section 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. The Rajarampuri Police confirmed to OpIndia that the case has been filed and that the investigations are underway.
Notably, on January 1, several Hindu organizations organized a protest rally under the banner of ‘Hindu Jan Aakrosh Morcha’ in Kolhapur against a rise in cases of love jihad. Thousands of people joined in the protest and demanded stringent laws against forceful conversion. To date, around 30 such rallies have already been organised across Maharashtra. Previously, such rallies have been organised in over 20 districts, including Mumbai, Parbhani, Nanded, Ahmednagar, Kolhapur, Gadchiroli, Satara, Karad, Sangli, Solapur, Pune, Dhule, Jalgaon, Nagpur, Amravati, Hingoli, Buldhana and Jalna.
