File Photo
Mumbai: Ranjit Patil, MoS for Home today suspended an Assistant Police Inspector for dereliction of duty in an assault case in which a 10-month-old infant girl was brutally beaten up by the caretaker of a play school-cum-day care center, after the issue was raised in the state assembly.
MLAs belonging to all parties made a unanimous demand to make stringent laws to deal with such cases relating to creches, with whom working mothers entrust the care of their children.
Raising the issue through a Calling Attention motion, members Sunil Prabhu, Prashant Thakur, Ashish Shelar and others drew the attention of the House, demanding action against the API of Kharghar Police Station for trying to delay the registration of a case in connection with the incident.
Jayant Patil (NCP), Manisha Choudhary (BJP) and Virendra Jagtap (Congress) questioned the laxity in investigating the case.
They said the API was expected to register a case under relevant sections forthwith, but he instead told the complainant to wait until the Senior Police Inspector comes on duty.
The members said that the API indulged in delaying tactics and allowed the owner to tamper with the CCTV footage. Patil told the House that the incident came to notice in the morning but a case was registered late in the evening.
Shelar criticised the police over the bail granted to one of the accused booked under section 307 of the IPC.
The House unanimously demanded suspension of the officer, following which Patil announced it on the floor of the House.
Yesterday, Navi Mumbai Police arrested Priyanka Nikam, the owner of the creche at Kharghar after Bombay High Court rejected her application for pre-arrest bail.
