PRIDE OF MUMBAI POLICE
This comes straight out of the comic books. Rewind to 2015. A step-mother, Pratibha Sawant (30) killed her stepdaughter Payal (6) by brutally torturing the little kid by pricking safety pins in her tender eyes and ruthlessly burning the gentle parts of her body! Exasperated by the nasty cruelty the honourable judge Surekha Patil (Special Court) sentenced the step-mother to life imprisonment for shaming the gracious name of ‘Mother’!
The bizarre incident came to light on 31 November 2015 when media reports were rife slamming the brutality of a step-mother. The incident happened at Panchratna Society located on Jangal Mangal road in Bhandup. The victim’s father, Rajesh Sawant had remarried and her stepmother disliked her. She would treat her inhumanly and inflicted untold torture but the helpless girl mutely faced all humiliation and suffering without complaint as she had no one to listen her owes. However, after her murder, when the police sternly interrogated the victim’s uncle Sunil Sawant he spilled the beans. Later, Pratibha acknowledged her crime.
Since the victim, Payal was mentally and physically disabled hence her stepmother Pratibha hated her and to get rid of her she meted her with chilling punishment like pricking safety pins in her eyes, burning her body parts and maliciously beating her. On the day of the crime, Pratibha inflicted Payal with the burning stick and pricked her eyes with sharp and pointed needles!! The postmortem report clearly mentioned infection and mental trauma the key reasons behind the horrendous death. As per the post-mortem reports and the witnesses evidence, the court ordered accused, Pratibha Sawant life imprisonment.
PSI Suhas Rahane, who was at that time posted at Bhandup police station, very astutely and diligently gathered all material evidence and himself became the complainant to meet the ends of justice for the deceased. Since no witnesses were willing to come forward to testify against the accused, PSI Rahane took it upon himself to present the case before the court. He testified in the court against the accused and helped the court to reach a decision to convict the step-mother. Finally, the accused was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Sessions Court on May 2019.
Forgoing beyond the call of duty, API Suhas Rahane was felicitated by none other than Mumbai Commissioner of Police, Sanjay Barve, who commended PSI Rahane for his excellent work and presented him a Certificate of Merit. Former PI Vinay Kumar Rathod, ACP Sashank Sandbhor, Senior PI Shripad Kale, PI Siddheshwar Gove, DCP Akhilesh Kumar Singh, ACP Arun Sonde and Sr.PI Ramesh Khade also congratulated and offered their best wishes to API Suhas Rahane.
