Real-life Sairat! Cop inaction cost Mumbai teen Swapnil his life: HC

The Bombay High Court has come down heavily on cops investigating the Nerul honour killing case. Rejecting the bail plea of one of the accused, the court slammed cops for being “insensitive” and “careless” in handling the case

Swapnil Sonawane

The Bombay High Court has come down heavily on cops investigating the Nerul honour killing case. Rejecting the bail plea of one of the accused, the court slammed cops for being “insensitive” and “careless” in handling the case.

Fifteen-year-old Dalit boy Swapnil died on July 19 last year, after he was attacked by relatives of the 17-year-old girl he loved. The court was hearing the bail plea of Durgesh Patil, cousin of the girl and one of the accused.

Justice Sadhana Jadhav said, “Honour killing is not acceptable in any society. Cops need to be sensitised about such issues and they should be more sensitive while handling such cases. If the policemen had acted on time, Swapnil would not have died.

Instead of taking swift action against the culprits, when Swapnil approached the cops, they narrated Bollywood scripts to him in which a poor or ‘low caste’ boy suffers for falling in love with a rich upper caste woman.”

Nerul police had arrested Sagar (the woman’s brother), Rajendra (father), Saj­esh (bro­ther), Malti (mother), Ashish Thakur and Durgesh (cousins) and auto driver Samir Shaikh, whose vehicle was used to kidnap Swapnil. They were booked under Sections 302, 364, 504, 506 and 34 of the IPC and other sections of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act).

An inquiry was initiated against three cops, including PSI Rajguru and PSI Yogesh Mane, for refusing to file a complaint.

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