Protectors turn abusive?

Girl whose brother married outside community says cops tricked her into going with them to police station, abused and threatened her

A shocking series of incidents unfolded at the Yerawada police station, late last night.

Neha Parashar from Dhanori alleged that she was abused by Yerawada police officers at the Lohegaon Airport station from 7 pm to 11 pm. The reason: Neha's brother Prince eloped with a girl named Aashika Jain from Rajasthan and reached Pune one-week back.

Neha, who is an employee of a private airline was with the police for more than four hours simply because her brother had run away from Rajasthan with his girlfriend who belonged to another religion.

Neha also claimed that the girl's father ufffd an eminent doctor threatened her of dire consequences if her daughter was not returned.

Aashika's father Dr P C Patne filed a missing complaint at the local police station in Rajasthan and purportedly used his influence for taking immediate police action.

Prince alerted this reporter that the Jain family members, with the help of Yerawada police, were threatening his sister. However, on Tuesday when MiD DAY tried to contact Prince his phone was switched off.

Neha said that the police had a courier to hand over to her and asked her to come to the station. As soon as she reached there, they started enquiring about her brother. "The female PSI abused me and threatened to put me in lock-up if I did not provide them with information about Prince. I was released after I gave a statement.

The lady officer was not even allowing me to produce documents about my brother's proof of age."

Neha alleged that the Jain family, was threatening her. "The police are being biased by helping the Jains and I am concerned about Prince's and my safety," added Neha.

Secretary of the Maharashtra Committee of the All India Democratic Women's Association Kiran Moghe said, "There's no need to harass a girl who was not related to the original case. If the boy and girl were adults and have married each other consensually, then the police has no reason to ill-treat the girl."