Firstpost: Mumbai: Saturday,
April 05, 2014.
An RTI
activist has claimed that Mumbai police could not provide any information as to
whether owners of Shakti Mills premises in central Mumbai, where two gangrapes
took place last year, were summoned during the investigation.
The premises
are in the possession of the Official Liquidator of the Bombay High Court for the
last 16 years.
RTI activist
Anil Galgali had filed a query under the RTI Act with the Mumbai police on
October 15, 2013, seeking information about the people arrested in the two
cases and action taken against the property owners for not securing the
deserted premises.
The Mill,
defunct for the last many years, lies in the busy central Mumbai area.
Sudhakar
Ghagre, Senior Inspector, N M Joshi Marg police station, said in his reply that
the Crime Branch was probing the case, and his station did not have information
about the owner. Ghagre also stated that the land was in the possession of
Official Liquidator.
Galgali's
query to the Official Liquidator revealed that the High Court had ordered
winding up of the Shakti Mills Ltd, and since then the possession and the
responsibility of securing and maintaining the company (in liquidation) lied
with the Liquidator.
Galgali
claimed that when he approached the crime branch, he received no information on
whether the owners' liability was looked into.
According to
him, it was the responsibility of the original owners and the Official
Liquidator to secure the property. Had the premises been secured, the crimes
could have been avoided, he says.
Galgali has
also sent a letter to the Chief Justice of Bombay High Court, seeking action in
this regard.
Sessions
court has convicted a total of five persons for the two rapes. Three of them
were convicted in both cases, and were sentenced to death for repeat offence
today.
.JPG)
.JPG)
