56-year-old rapes mute minor in Ahmednagar

A 56-year-old man allegedly raped a 15-year-old disabled girl in Mohari village of Ahmednagar’s Pathardi tehsil on Sunday. The alleged rapist, Ashok Sadashiv Wahalekar, was arrested on Sunday and remanded to police custody till October 1 on Monday.

The entire tehsil observed a bandh on Monday to condemn the incident. A silent morcha was also held in Mohori village, in which people from all communities participated and demanded strictest action against the accused.

The alleged rapist, who has eight daughters and a son, entered the house of the victim in the afternoon and raped her. As the survivor is deaf and mute, she could not scream for help.

In a serious turn of events on Sunday evening, Wahalekar’s relatives warned the victim’s family that they would file atrocity cases against them if they complained to the police, said Ahmednagar Shivprahar Sanghatna president Sanjeev Bhor-Patil. This caused tension in the village and additional policemen were brought in for bandobast.

Women’s rights lawyer Ranjana Pagar-Gawande from Ahmednagar said people should not look at the caste of the survivor or the accused.