Will State not take crimes against women seriously unless people protest? Bombay High Court

The Bombay High Court on Wednesday reprimanded the State for its casual and lackadaisical approach to investigating sexual assault cases against women and children..A Bench comprising Justices AS Gadkari and Neela Gokhale expressed their dissatisfaction and questioned the State's commitment to addressing these serious crimes.The Bench asked whether protests by people are required for the State to swing into action. .“Unless people don't protest, your department won't investigate? Is the State of Maharashtra trying to give us a signal that unless people don't protest, it won't take crimes against women seriously?” the Bench asked. .The Court highlighted the alarming frequency of unaddressed cases.“Everyday, we are hearing of rape or POCSO cases. Everyday, we come across at least four cases of POCSO and rape or other serious crimes against women which aren't probed properly... This is pathetic. Don't you have specialised officers or women officers? Why let only constables and head constables probe the cases?” the Court said..These remarks came during the hearing of a petition to quash an FIR in a gangrape case from 2022, involving a minor. The accused had sought quashing of the first information report (FIR) in the matter citing settlement. The Court pointed out severe inadequacies in the investigation, including the destruction of evidence due to the termination of a fetus carried by the rape victim. The Court summoned DCP Pournima Chowgule-Shiringi, in charge of the Tulinj Police Station. However, her arrival was delayed due to law and order issues stemming from protests in Badlapur following the sexual assault of two minors..The Court expressed deep anguish over the police's failure to preserve the aborted fetus, a crucial piece of evidence in the rape case. “All this is being done to save him from the clutches of law,” the Court noted.The Additional Public Prosecutor Ashish Satpute revealed that the victim's father had moved her to the Masina Hospital in Byculla without notifying the police. “When we sought DNA samples, the hospital said that on May 4, 2020 itself they destroyed the fetus,” the prosecutor said..The Court then asked, “How will you prove the case now? You would only be able to prove that she was pregnant, but from whom? How will you do this? Every MTP order we specifically direct for preserving tissues etc. for DNA. A vital piece of evidence has been destroyed. Section 376(2)(n) is for a woman, not a minor. The victim was only 17 years old. So how will you reconcile all these things?".Following the hearing in this case, the Court addressed another matter involving the kidnapping of a girl child and reiterated its dissatisfaction with the State's handling of such cases. “Declare that in the State of Maharashtra, probe in offenses against women and children will henceforth not be probed properly or would not be probed at all. Or if done, will be done in a most casual manner," the Court remarked.