Amravati sexual harassment case: State minorities commission finds eight victims, calls viral claims ‘grossly exaggerated’

Mumbai: In a new twist to the Amravati sexual harassment case, the Maharashtra State Minorities Commission (MSMC) termed claims of a large number of victims as grossly exaggerated, noting that they have found only eight victims, all of whom are Muslims.

The MSMC reported this fact a day after an MSMC team visited Paratwada in Amravati on a fact-finding mission.

“So far there are eight victims and all of them are Muslims,” MSMC Chairperson Pyare Khan said rejecting claims of over 180 plus victims and more than 350 videos involving mainly Hindu girls and some Muslims. 

“Our team found that of these eight victims, videos of two were made public and phones of six victims were circulated," Khan added. 

Khan said that he has asked Amravati City Police Commissioner Rakesh Ola and Amravati Rural Superintendent of Police Vishal Anand to ensure people do not fan communal passion in the wake of the incident. 

So far, the Special Investigation Team headed by Achalpur Assistant Superintendent of Police Shubham Kumar has arrested eight accused persons which included seven Muslims and one Hindu. 

The MSMC team met Amravati Collector Ashish Yerekar besides the top police officials involved in the investigations and carried out an on ground assessment of the situation. 

"There are only 8 victims including a couple of minors, all belonging to the minority community,” Khan reiterated. 

To a query, Khan stated that MSMC’s preliminary report will be submitted directly to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, who is also the state Home Minister,  for further action, maintaining that its findings corroborate the conclusions of the Amravati Rural Police.

“Our priority is to ensure justice for the victims and maintain communal harmony,” he asserted.

Slamming irresponsible political statements, Khan said that on one hand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Fadnavis are working for women’s upliftment but on the other their efforts are being negated by certain elements who malign women and disturb harmony.

Khan accused former MP and BJP leader Navneet Rana of deliberately trying to incite a communal conflict in Amravati in the wake of a case involving the circulation of obscene video clips of minor girls on social media.

Khan demanded Rana’s expulsion from the BJP over her allegation on Thursday that all victims in the case were Hindus, while the accused belonged to the Muslim community.

“There is no need for leaders like Navneet Rana in the BJP, which follows the motto of ‘Sabka Saath, Sabka Vikas’. Hence, she should be expelled from the party,” he said, adding that he will write to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Union Home Minister Amit Shah with this demand.

The eight accused were identified as Ayan Ahmed Tanveer Ahmed (19), Ujer Khan Iqbal Khan (20), Mohammed Sadh Mohammed Sabir (22), Tarbez Khan Taslim Khan (24), Aifaz Khan Manjur Khan (26), Mohammed Imran Mohammed Sajid (21), Shaikh Naved Sheikh Hasan (21) and Manav Deepak Sugandhe (20).