Palghar: Case against 8 persons under SC/ST Atrocities for abusing woman

Under the SC/ST Atrocities Act, police have filed a FIR against seven women and a man for allegedly harassing a 34-year-old woman who previously worked for Thane Zilla Parishad in Maharashtra's health department.

As per the woman’s complaint, she was subjected to the harassment between June 2021 to January 2023 when she worked at a primary health centre, panchayat samiti office in Bhiwandi and the Zilla Parishad’s health department in Thane, the official from Narpoli police station said.

Some of the accused allegedly refused to do the work assigned to them by the complainant, belonging to Warli community, saying they will not take orders from her as she was from a lower caste, according to the FIR. They also allegedly abused her when when she once drank water from their bottle, it said.

Some of the accused persons also abused and humiliated her in front of other employees over her caste. They also allegedly made false complaints against her, following which she was removed from the job, the FIR said. The victim also stated that after losing her job, she went to her village in Mokhada taluka of neighbouring Palghar district and did farming.

Based on the complaint, the police on Tuesday registered the FIR against the eight accused, including a child development officer, under provisions of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the official said.