Pawar seeks stringent action against rape accused cop

Osmabad (Maharashtra), Aug 7: tiolist Congress Party President Sharad Pawar on Sunday demanded stringent punishment for a police sub-inspector accused of raping a 16-year-old girl at gunpoint in Osmabad.

Accompanied by senior NCP leaders, Pawar travelled from Pune to Osmabad to meet top police officials to demand appointment of a special public prosecutor to pursue the case and its transfer to a fast-track court.

Sub-Inspector Prem Sukhdev Bansode, 26, posted at Vishrambaug police station in Sangli, was charged with raping the minor daughter of his tents at gunpoint on Thursday and later threatening them to keep the crime under wraps.

The family, however, complained at the Andgar Police Station in Osmabad at around 11 p.m. on Friday. The accused was booked under Section 376 of the Indian Pel Code and the POCSO Act since the victim is a minor.

Bansode was arrested and remanded in police custody till August 10. “The July 13 incident (of rape-murder of a minor girl) at Kopardi in Ahmedgar is still fresh in our minds. Now this. In the past few days, there have been some other similar incidents and young school and college girls are feeling scared of even venturing out,” Pawar told the media after meeting police officers. (IANS)