8-month pregnant woman gang-raped by 8 men in Maharashtra
Mumbai/Sangli, Aug 2: A shocking case of an eight-month pregnant woman from Satara being gang-raped by eight men in Sangli has come to light. Taking serious note, the Maharashtra State Commission for Women on Thursday sought a report from the local police.
The incident occurred around 6 a.m. on Tuesday when the 20-year-old woman, along with her hotelier husband, had gone to Turchi Phata in Tasgaon for a business meeting.
An official of Tasgaon police station told IANS that the hotelier and his wife were on the lookout to hire a couple for their hotel business.
One of the accused, Mukund Mane, had called him (the hotelier) to Turchi Phata claiming such a couple was ready to work for them and asked him to bring Rs 20,000 as advance payment for them.
When they reached the location, Mane and his men pounced on the hotelier couple, assaulted them with pipes and sticks, robbed them of the cash besides the woman's gold ornaments.
Then they tied up the husband, gagged and locked him inside his vehicle and then allegedly gang-raped the woman.
They ignored her repeated pleas to let her go since she was eight months pregnant and after committing the crime escaped from there.
The attackers threatened them against informing the police claiming "they were locally very influential and nobody would listen to them".
Later, the couple managed to reach the Tasgaon police station and registered a complaint. The woman has named four of the eight accused - Mukund Mane, Sagar, Javed Khan and Vinod - in her FIR.
Nearly 48 hours after the incident, the police have yet to make arrests.
Intervening in the matter, Maharashtra State Commission for Women Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar has written to the Sangli Superintendent of Police to personally look into the case and submit a detailed report on the case.
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Two women died, 6 taken ill after ‘consuming’ mango kernel gruel in Odisha
Bhubaneswar/Berhampur/Phulbani, Nov 1: At least two tribal women died and six others fell ill after allegedly consuming mango kernel gruel in Odisha's Kandhamal district, police said on Friday.
Consumption of mango kernel, prepared by boiling the seeds in water, was reported from Mandipanka village in the district's Daringbadi block, an officer said.
While one of the two women (Rasmita Pattamajhi aged 22) died on Thursday night at Mohana community health centre in Gajapati district where she was undergoing treatment after "consuming the gruel", another woman (Runu Majhi aged 29) breathed her last while being taken to MKCG Medical College Hospital in Berhampur, Gadapur sarpanch Kumari Mallick said.
Six others, who fell ill after allegedly consuming the gruel, were admitted to a hospital and their condition was critical, said Dr Subrat Das, a medical officer of the health facility.
"All the six have been admitted to the hospital in a serious condition. We suspected that they fell sick due to food poisoning. The exact cause of the illness will be ascertained after completion of the investigation," he added.
The six were identified as Pravati Patmajhi, Dranglu Patmajhi, Tuni Majhi, Susama Patmajhi, Jita Majhi and Jibanti Majhi, Daringbadi BDO Pritiranjan Ratha said.
Meanwhile, the Odisha government has rejected allegations that tribal people have been consuming mango kernel gruel due to a lack of access to rice under the Public Distribution System (PDS).
Rasmita's husband Anil Pattamajhi alleged that they were denied rice under PDS for the last three months because of which his wife consumed mango kernel.
However, Kandhamal district magistrate-cum-collector Amrit Ruturaj dismissed the allegations, saying the family received rice according to PDS norms. "We are awaiting the postmortem report to determine the facts," the collector added.
Deputy chief minister Pravati Parida, who is also in-charge of the women and child development department said, "It is not a case of malnutrition. Mango kernel is part of their (tribal) regular diet. Sometime, the mango kernels get contaminated and lead to such unfortunate incidents. We have been actively spreading awareness about the risks of food contamination."
Health and family welfare minister Mukesh Mahaling, who ordered a departmental inquiry into the death of two tribal women, said a team from the district headquarters hospital and another local team are at the spot to assess the situation and conduct a detailed probe into the incident.
Mahaling said that the government was waiting for the postmortem report for a confirmation on the cause of the deaths. "People in Kandhamal consume mango kernel. It is common in that region and there also have been reports of health complications linked to it in the past," he said.
The Kandhmal incident reminds a similar tragedy involving mango kernel deaths in Kashipur block of Rayagada district, where at least 20 people died in 2001, and two more succumbed to mango kernel consumption in 2016. Additionally, mango kernel has claimed lives in Laxmipur in Koraput district in 2012 and 2013, as well as in Jharigaon in Nabarangpur district in 2018.
