Uran, in Navi Mumbai, where the body of a 20-year-old woman, identified as Yashashri Shinde, was found in the shrubberies near the railway station late Friday night. She lived with her family in Uran and worked in Belapur. For her work, she used to travel every day from Uran to Belapur. On Thursday she didn’t return home. Worried parents lodged a missing report with the Uran police station late that evening.
Meanwhile, parents contacted her office, friends, and other known people. Some family members even went west across the area to trace her. They were continuously making calls to their daughter but nothing worked.
Saturday morning, police received a call reporting the discovery of a woman’s body near the Uran railway station. Officers dispatched to the scene transported the remains to a hospital, where Shinde’s family identified her. Subsequently, a murder case was registered.
Shinde’s father, Surendra Kumar, alleged that a man named Dawood Shaikh was responsible for her death. Authorities believe the murder may be the result of a one-sided love affair. Shinde’s body bore multiple stab wounds on her stomach and back, though it had not been mutilated. She was also brutally raped before the murder.
The search for Dawood Shaikh began by the Uran police; they have formed seven teams to track down the suspect, with the crime branch conducting a parallel investigation. During their inquiry, police discovered that Shinde had only worked half a day on Thursday, leading them to believe the murder occurred around 3:30 or 4:00 pm that afternoon. Authorities are reviewing CCTV footage to gather more evidence. An officer mentioned that they have identified the suspect’s location and dispatched a team to apprehend him.
In 2019, the girl’s parents registered an FIR against one Dawood Shaikh under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. After his release from prison in 2022, Shaikh resumed his contact with Shinde. Shaikh, after coming from jail, approached Shinde, and they both have been in touch since then. Shinde’s parents had a problem with Dawood due to religious differences, but Yashashri still maintained relations with him.
On the day she went missing, Dawood had come to the area and the duo had met. As per the police probe, they were sitting and talking near the spot where her body was found. Their meeting turned into a fight, where Dawood may have stabbed her and fled. Due to heavy rains, the body of the girl had been heavily decomposed by the time it was found. The police then began looking for Shaikh and found his mobile switched off. The police have also sent teams to Karnataka, where Shaikh hails from, to track him down. Currently, he remains the prime suspect in the case. Only once he is arrested will there be clarity on the motive behind the murder.
There are similar series of rape and murder cases that happened around Mumbai and in Maharashtra. Maharashtra is becoming a threat to women because the abuse is on the rise but law and order are not strong. Our politicians are busy saving their party and position. Ruling party at its worst in Maharashtra. As many as four cases of rape were lodged on a single day at different police stations in Mumbai on June 11, 2024, bringing to the fore fears of women’s safety and security.
A young girl was raped in a mosque in the Kalyan district, a satellite town of Mumbai, on 6th May 2024. The rape happened in the mosque when the victim entered the mosque premise to drink water. The accused person has been identified as Aqdas Chandu, who has been taken into custody by the police. The victim, a 12-year-old girl who resides in the locality, had gone to some store to purchase a cake. While on the move, she stopped at a local mosque to get some water because she was thirsty. It is then that the nearby fruit seller accused Aqdas Chandu of entering the mosque and raping the girl.
On July 12, 2024, two men who identified themselves as acquaintances of her father and grandmother approached the victim and convinced her to board an autorickshaw with them. But, when she agreed, the two took her to a desolate place and raped her in Thane district, the constituency of our Chief Minister Shinde.
Another case where a 17-year-old girl from Maharashtra’s Palghar district was allegedly raped by two persons on different occasions under the pretext of marriage, following which she became pregnant and had two children. Every day, at least one rape case is registered in Mumbai. If you look at the entire Maharashtra, the situation is scary and not safe for women and girls.
According to official data from the Mumbai police, in January this year, 184 cases of women being molested were reported in Mumbai, with 152 cases resolved by the police. This yields a detection rate of 83%. It means that, on average, six molestation cases are filed daily in the city. In 2023, 2,163 cases of molestation were reported, and action was taken in 2054 cases, resulting in a 95% resolution rate. In the preceding year, 2,347 cases were reported, with action taken in 1,955 instances and a detection rate of 83%.
In January 2024, 60 rape cases were registered in Mumbai, and the police solved 47 cases, resulting in a detection rate of 78%. On average, one rape case was filed every day in January. In 2023, 973 rape cases were lodged in Mumbai, and the police successfully solved 933 cases, achieving a detection rate of 96%. In 2022, 984 rape cases were reported, with 912 cases detected, yielding a detection rate of 93%.
