Police unable to cobble proof

Mumbai: In past one month, there have been two instances of three minor boys being sodomised in Andheri and Powai area, but the police has not been able to get the minor witnesses to speak up.

The reason being that as per the law they cannot be brought to the police station, and have to be questioned in front of their parents.

Both the victims in the Powai case have committed suicide.

While seven teenage boys were arrested by the D.N. Nagar police on Wednesday for sodomising their 15-year-old friend for a period spanning two months, the perpetrators of sodomising two minor boys from Powai are still at large. The latter case happened on July 6, when three men allegedly sodomised the two boys aged 10 and 13 respectively. Sources in the Powai police station told this newspaper that in the latter case, the children in the area of Powai village are the only major lead that the police can get at this point of time.

According to the guidelines issued by the HC, cops cannot produce the minor kids in the court of law or take them to the police station for interrogation. Whatever interrogation that has to take place is supposed to be done considering the child’s convenience and the police officers should not be dressed in their uniforms.

Navinchandra Reddy, deputy commissioner of police, zone 10 had told this newspaper, “We suspect that the kids might be knowing something, but due to their parents’ fear, they are not opening up to the police. We are finding it difficult to take the probe forward, as there are very few leads to follow.”

He added, “We also suspect that the perpetrators of the Powai crime have left the city. We have already sent a team to various places to nab the unidentified accused persons.” The Powai police had also asked the shopkeepers in the locality if they had sold a spiked cold drink on July 6, but the shopkeepers have said they usually sell 50 bottles a day, and it is hard to remember something from 10 days ago.

Sodomy cases in recent years

2009
The police arrested a 21-year-old labourer and a horse carriage driver for sodomising two young boys, in two separate cases. The incidents took place at Dharavi and Cuffe Parade.
2011
British paedophiles Duncan Grant and Allan Waters surrendered and were later convicted for sexual abuse of minor boys in Mumbai.
2015
Two years after his arrest, charges were framed against Fr Lawrence Johnson for allegedly abusing a teenage boy from his parish in Shivaji Nagar in 2017.