The Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) staged a protest on Saturday outside Wadia College in Pune over the rape of a 16-year-old girl and demanded action against the authorities who they alleged were aware of the assault but did not inform the police, causing a delay in lodging the FIR.

Speaking to The Free Press Journal, Harshvardhan Harpude, Pune City Secretary of ABVP, said, "The college management, including the principal, teachers, and non-teaching staff, made several efforts to suppress the case and intimidate the victim and her family. College authorities had threatened the family members of the victim not to approach the police and media, otherwise they could suffer severe consequences. We are demanding justice for them and also asking police to take action against college authorities for threatening the victim's parents."

Earlier on Friday, Congress MLA Ravindra Dhangekar staged a protest outside the Pune Police Commissionerate. "We demand that the police carry out a fair investigation in this case. Justice should be delivered to the girl. The police should also act against the college authorities who tried to hide the incident. I have submitted a letter to the police," he said. The Kasba Peth MLA also claimed that one of the accused's parents is a PWD officer and has good relations with college trustee Sachin Sanap. "This was the reason there was a delay in lodging the FIR," he alleged.

Prashant Jagtap, Pune City Chief, NCP (SP), expressed, "Instead of providing justice to the victim, the college management tried to brush the matter under the carpet for many days. This is not fair. Pune City is known for education, and such a heinous act is shameful. We requested the police to take action against the accused as well as the college management."

What is the case?

Pune City Police have arrested two persons and detained two minors on charges of raping the girl they had met separately on social media. Police said the assaults by the four accused had taken place at different times between April and September at various locations, and that prima facie no direct link between the four accused had come to light.

The two arrested accused have been identified as Om Gholap (20, resident of Dhankawadi) and Swapnil Devkar (20, Yerwada). The names of the two minor accused could not be revealed, but they are both 16 years old.

Regarding the incident, Smartana Patil, DCP, Zone 2, speaking to the media said, "One of our officers recently visited a college to conduct a session on 'Good touch, bad touch'. A girl student from that college shared with our officer some of the issues she had been facing. She was referred to a counsellor in the college. While speaking to the counsellor, the girl spoke about her friend who had met some people online and had 'bad experiences'. The college authorities referred the case to us, and on September 24, we registered a case in the matter under the provisions of the POCSO Act at the Koregaon Park Police Station."

"It has come to light that this girl was allegedly raped by the four accused she had met on Instagram. It has been learned that videos were also made on some occasions, because of which we have invoked the Information Technology Act," Patil added.

Meanwhile, the court has remanded the two adult accused to police custody until October 3, while the two minors have been sent to an observation home by the Juvenile Justice Board (JJB). Further investigations are underway.