By TwoCircles.net Staff Reporter,
Mira Road (District Thane, Maharashtra): A BJP corporator from the Mira-Bhayander Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has been booked for allegedly molesting a minor girl here.
The girl is a 13-year-old, class 7 student, belonging to a minority community.
Police said Ashwin Kasodriya, 38, the corporator representing Shanti Nagar area of Mira Road (West) had on March 20 afternoon allegedly inappropriately touched the teenager, who lives in the same apartment complex where he resides.
Ashwin Kasodriya, BJP corporator from Shanti Nagar area of Mira Road West [picture taken from his Facebook profile]
Mira Road police also said parents of the girl approached them the same evening to lodge the complaint and asked for filing of FIR. Subsequently an offence was registered against Kasodriya for molestation and criminal intimidation under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012.
“According to the complainant, at about 1.30 pm on Friday, March 20, she was climbing down the stairs of her building when she met Kasodriya. The girl greeted Kasodriya, who instead, put his hand around her waist and pulled her to him. The scared girl shouted, rushed to her home and told her parents about the incident,” said an officer at the Mira Road police station.
Dhanaji Shirsagar, senior inspector, Mira Road police station, said Kasodriya was not at his residential place and hence was not booked even after more than 24 hours of the complaint.
Parents of the girl, however, have alleged that police alerted Kasodriya due to which he absconded. It is reported that, in the meantime, Kasodriya approached the court and secured an interim bail till April 9.
A photo making rounds over social sites having a women holding a placard during one of a protest in Mumbai
Now, the family alleges that they are receiving threat calls and are seeking police protection.
The mother of the victim told India Samvad on phone that the incident took place when their daughter was returning home from school. “My daughter’s exams are going on. She is in a state of shock. She has even stopped going for her tuitions. Now, she even feels scared to walk down the staircase,” the victim’s mother said, adding, “We have given an application to the police for security cover. As of now, there is no arrest in the case. Initially, there was pressure from the local BJP leader on us to withdraw the FIR.”
TwoCircles.net discovered that presently victim’s mother is hospitalised due to high blood pressure and is in a state of trauma. “I am not in a position to answer any question. We are completely shattered and do not wish to talk about the matter,” she told TCN on phone from the hospital.
However, while talking with Indian Express Narendra Mehta, the BJP MLA from Mira-Bhayandar claimed that Kasodriya was sitting in his office on the ground floor of the same building when the alleged incident took place.
“We can provide CCTV footage from Kasodriya’s office that shows that he was speaking to a few people in his office at 1.30 pm on Friday. The girl has said that she shouted after he molested her, but why is it that no neighbour then came to her aid after hearing her cries? We are confident that the police investigations will prove that Kasodriya has done nothing wrong,” Mehta said.
Earlier, on January 3, 2013 Kasodriya was arrested along with four other BJP corporators for ransacking the office and house of standing committee member Seema Jain, whose mysterious absence had paved way for a comfortable victory of NCP supported candidate Raju Bhoir against BJP’s Sharad Patil, who lost by one vote during the civic polls.
Mob led by Kasodriya and other corporators had ransacked Jain’s house and also threw stones at her office breaking windowpanes, blackened her pictures displayed in banners and garlanded Jain’s photo with footwear.