Maharashtra Home Minister Anil Deshmukh has expressed concern over the rise in incidents of crime against women since the lockdown came into force, and said the offenders should not assume that police are busy keeping people indoors and will not act against them.
Police will take strict action against those indulging in violence, harassment and molestation of women, he said.
"Some perverts are indulging in crime against women, wrongly assuming that police are too busy in the enforcement of lockdown, to act against them. But this is far from true," Deshmukh said in a statement on Sunday.
"I have instructed the police to invoke the strongest sections and take strict action against such men," he said.
The minister also expressed concern over the rising instances of domestic violence against women.
"We have strong laws in place to take this on and I have made it clear that any tardiness in bringing such culprits to book will not be tolerated," he said.