News Reports
Shraddha Walkar murder: Activist Shreha Dhargalkar demands similar squad for Goa, like Maharashtra, to track young women who leave home after fights with their families
PANAJI: In the wake of the Shradhha Walkar murder case, even as a Mumbai MLA Mangal Prabhat Lodha – minister for Skill Development and Entrepreneurship in Maharashtra, on Saturday said the Maharashtra government has decided to set up a special squad for the protection of girls leaving home after a fight with their parents, activist Shreha Dhargalkar demanded that Goa CM Pramod Sawant set up a similar squad in Goa to monitor the safety of women who have either left their families or have been disowned by them because of inter-caste and inter-religion marriages.
“In Goa we have seen several cases. They may not be as brutal as the Shraddha Walkar murder, but there have been cases which are not solved till date like the Siddhi Naik case. A lot of Goan women work in Mumbai, Delhi and Bengalaru and someone must track them for their own safety, offering them a single emergency number to call if they are in trouble,” Shreha said.
“We should also set up a support system or help desk for inter caste and inter religious marriages in Goa when the woman is disowned by the family for the marriage. Very often such women have nobody to turn to for help,” Dhargalkar said, urging families to be more sensitive and loving to the girls in the family.
A native of Mumbai, Shraddha was murdered by her live-in partner Aftab Amin Poonawala who also chopped off her body into 35 pieces and dumped them in the forests of Delhi’s Chhatarpur.
“I’ve directed the state women’s commission to form a special squad (to ensure protection of girls fleeing their homes). Once a girl becomes an adult (attains 18 years of age), she can’t be forcibly either by her family or the police. However, when she gets into a fight with her family members, marries against their wish and elopes, she knows she won’t get any help from her family in the event of trouble,” Lodha, told ANI.
Shraddha allegedly left home after a fight with her parents, saying that she wanted to live-in with her boyfriend. The couple later shifted to Delhi and set up residence at a rented apartment in Chhatarpur.
Delhi Police solved the six-month-old ‘blind murder case’ with the arrest of Aftab. On the receipt of a complaint from Shraddha’s father, Delhi Police had registered an FIR on November 10.
While the accused confessed to his crime and is currently in police custody, a team of Delhi Police is currently in Mumbai as part of their ongoing probe in the case. The Maharashtra government on Saturday said the state women’s commission will put together a special squad to ensure the safety of women, who run away from their homes against their parents’ wishes, or elope while being in a relationship.
During his interrogation, Aftab confessed to killing Shraddha on May 18 after which he planned to dispose of her body in a manner so as not to arouse suspicion. He reportedly told police that he borrowed ideas from his favourite crime shows on streaming devices and also researched on human anatomy before chopping off Shraddha’s body.
After searching on Google for was to erase evidence, Aftab mopped off blood stains from the floor using some chemicals and disposed of the blood-stained clothes, police said. He then bought a refrigerator to preserve the chopped body parts, police said.
A Delhi court, meanwhile, directed the Rohini Forensic Science Laboratory to conduct a narco test of Aaftab Poonawala within five days.