Woman denies gang-rape allegation at Mumbai railway station

Mumbai: Five days after the MRA Marg police registered a gang-rape case, the alleged survivor has denied any such incident took place. The case was initially filed following reports that a woman had been kidnapped and gang-raped by two individuals at a taxi stand outside Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Terminus (CSMT) station on October 2.
The police traced the 29-year-old woman, who lives on the pavement, to Kurla and recorded her statement. In it, she completely denied the incident. Authorities recorded her statement in the presence of an NGO and subsequently decided to document her testimony before a magistrate under Section 183 of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.
According to the initial complaint received by the police from a hospital staff member in Navi Mumbai, two men approached the woman on September 22 around midnight whilst she was sitting at the CSMT BEST bus stop. The complaint stated that although she had seen the men before, she did not know them. They allegedly picked her up, forcibly took her to the CSMT taxi stand, and raped her behind a taxi after threatening to kill her.
The woman then reportedly left for Navi Mumbai on October 2. A passer-by noticed her crying outside Nerul railway station and took her to Maasaheb Meenatai Thackeray Hospital. She informed the hospital staff that she was experiencing severe stomach pain and then revealed what had allegedly happened to her. The hospital staff subsequently informed the CSMT railway police, who registered a case of gang-rape and criminal intimidation against two unidentified individuals. The CSMT government railway police later transferred the case to the MRA Marg police.
A police officer attached to the MRA Marg police station said, “We were told by the CSMT police that the woman had been kept at an NGO in Dadar East. However, when our team reached the NGO, we learnt that she had fled from the premises. We then started tracing her, as the CCTV footage of the spot of incident did not support the allegations of the kidnapping and gang-rape. Our teams finally traced the woman to Kurla and spoke to her in detail about the incident. The woman told us that no such incident had taken place and as she was under pressure she concocted a story to the police.”
The officer added that they tried to persuade the woman to reveal the truth with the help of counsellors attached to an NGO, but she maintained that she had not been subjected to any such crime.
“We then wrote to a metropolitan magistrate who gave us a date and on Tuesday took her before a Metropolitan Magistrate and recorded her statement in front of a magistrate under Section 183 of the Bhartiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023,” the police officer said.
“We are yet to get a copy of her statement before the magistrate. We will analyse the statement and then decide the further course of investigation,” the officer continued. They added that the police have the option of closing the case by filing a B Summary in the matter.