BSF jawan detained by Pak: Pregnant wife, son arrive at Chandigarh airport from Hooghly
Chandigarh, Apr 28 (PTI): The wife of BSF jawan Purnam Sahu, who was detained by Pakistan Rangers after inadvertently crossing the international border, on Monday arrived at the Chandigarh airport from West Bengal's Hooghly.
Sahu's wife Rajani, who is pregnant, and their son arrived at the airport along with some relatives.
Rajani would be travelling to Punjab's Ferozepur to gather information from senior BSF officials about efforts to bring back her husband.
The jawan, Constable Sahu, was apprehended by the Pakistan Rangers from a farming field along the Ferozepur district of Punjab on April 23.
According to BSF officials, the incident occurred when Sahu, who was escorting a group of farmers near the border, stepped away to rest under a tree and unknowingly slipped into Pakistani territory.
He was posted with the 182nd battalion of the Border Security Force at the Ferozepur border.
The Indian and Pakistani border forces held a flag meeting to negotiate Sahu's release, officials said, but the family has not received any further updates.
The incident came at a time when relations between the two countries have hit a low in the wake of the Pahalgam terrorist attack which claimed 26 lives.
Rajani left her home in Hooghly district's Rishra in West Bengal for Punjab.
Earlier, she said if her queries with BSF camp officials remain unsatisfactory, she would travel from Ferozepur to Delhi to seek a meeting with Union Home Ministry and other government officials.
"I cannot tell you how tense I am as BSF officials are only asking me not to worry. There is no clarity. I am very worried so I planned the visit amid my condition," Rajani had said.
Sahu hails from Rishra in Hooghly district of West Bengal.
Rajani had initially planned to board the Amritsar Mail on Sunday evening, which travels to Ferozepur from Howrah via Pathankot but could not get a confirmed ticket.
The parents of Sahu, who hails from the Harisabha area of Rishra in West Bengal's Hooghly district, said they would appeal to the central government to do everything necessary to ensure their son's return.
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Deaf and mute woman breaks 16-year silence, exposes serial sexual abuse, blackmail in Mumbai
Mumbai (PTI): A deaf and mute woman's complaint about a sexual assault that took place 16 years ago in Mumbai has unmasked a serial predator, revealing a disturbing pattern of abuse and blackmail he perpetrated on several women from the community.
The accused was arrested on December 13 after the survivor broke her silence recently following the suicide attempt by one of the women he allegedly sexually harassed.
Disturbed by the suicide attempt, she confided in her friends during a video call about the assault that occurred in 2009.
According to the police, the survivor, a resident of the western suburbs, communicated in sign language during a video call with her friends and colleagues, who were part of a WhatsApp group, that the accused had drugged and raped her when she was a minor.
She also took her husband into confidence, and with support from Thane Deaf Association president Vaibhav Ghaisis, activist Mohammed Farhan Khan, sign language interpreter Madhu Keni, and a retired officer from the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute of Speech and Hearing Disabilities Divyangjan, the survivor approached the police.
The survivor, her husband and a few of her friends went to the Kurar police station, where her statement was recorded in camera, with Keni as interpreter, and the accused, Mahesh Pawar, was arrested a few hours later from Virar, a suburb in Palghar district.
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Recalling the trauma she endured 16 years ago, the survivor said that a female friend had invited her to explore the city in July 2009 and took her to Pawar's home in Vakola, Santacruz, an official said.
The accused allegedly offered her samosas and some beverage to celebrate the female friend's birthday. The survivor said she was forced to have the drink, which Pawar had allegedly spiked, and after a while, her friend left her alone with him.
The accused allegedly overpowered and raped her, and later blackmailed her with the recorded video of the assault.
The trauma of assault stayed with her over the years, and the attempted suicide of another woman from the community, allegedly assaulted by Pawar, propelled her to come forward.
A probe has revealed that the accused had similarly drugged and assaulted speech and hearing impaired women and threatened them into silence by blackmailing them with obscene videos, a senior police officer said.
The accused allegedly shot obscene videos of several women, using which he blackmailed them and extorted money, gold and mobile phones, he said.
He allegedly forced women into participating in nude video calls with him and recorded these to threaten them, the official said.
"As per initial investigation so far, we have evidence of his abuse of seven women, but the number can increase to more than 24," the official told PTI.
While Pawar has been remanded in judicial custody, no other woman has come forward with a complaint against him as yet, he said.
Talking to PTI, Keni said all women who have survived abuse and harassment by Pawar want to lodge a complaint against him.
She claimed that the accused had extorted money from one of the women he abused, but did not return the sum even when she needed it for a medical emergency.
