Ujjwal Nikam appointed as prosecutor in rape-murder case

Amid growing resentment and protests in the wake of kidnapping, rape, and murder of a minor Adivasi girl in Pen in Raigad district, the Maharashtra government on Thursday appointed advocate Ujjwal Nikam as the special public prosecutor in the case.

The announcement was made after the minister of state for home Shamburaj Desai rushed to Pen to review the situation.

“The case would be assigned to a fast-track court and the government has appointed Ujjwal Nikam as the special public prosecutor,” Desai told reporters.

The locals carried out a protest march for the second day and demanded capital punishment for the accused.

The accused has been identified as Aadesh Patil, a 32-year-old man.

Incidentally, a few years ago he was convicted on charges of rape and jailed – and committed the crime while on parole.

The brutal incident took place on Tuesday outside the tribal hamlet of Vadhaon in Pen.

The accused kidnapped the girl while her parents were resting.

The accused was seen disposing of the body after sexual assault and murder but managed to escape. On Wednesday, the Pen police managed to arrest him.

He has been booked for kidnapping, rape, murder under provisions of the Indian Penal Code and sections of the Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act.

Meanwhile, Vaishali Patil, who is a social activist from Raigad, spoke to the Maharashtra home minister Anil Deshmukh and demanded that the case against Patil is run in a fast-track court and that he should be awarded punishment as stringent as was awarded in the Nirbhaya case.