Thane: An inmate at a sub-jail in Maharashtra’s Thane district allegedly manhandled a police officer and destroyed CCTV cameras while questioning his detention and demanding his immediate release, officials said on Tuesday.

The accused claimed he was “unfazed” by legal action because he had faced similar charges in the past, they said.

The Shantinagar police have registered an FIR against the accused, identified as Faiaz Islam Shaikh (25), in connection with the incident which occurred on Sunday in the Bhiwandi sub-jail premises, where he was already lodged for a prior offence.

According to the police, the accused began shouting and hurling abuses at the personnel on duty. He allegedly challenged the authority of the police, questioning his detention and demanding his immediate release.

He further threatened the staff, claiming that a previous charge under Indian Penal Code Section 353 (assault on a public servant) did not bother him, an official from the Shantinagar police station said.

Shaikh allegedly pulled out three CCTV cameras installed near the sub-jail’s gate and smashed them onto the floor. He also broke three light bulbs in the area, the official said.

When a police officer attempted to pacify him and explain the protocol, the accused grabbed his collar and pushed him, he added.

The police have registered a case in this connection against Shaikh under various Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita sections, including 132 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of his duty), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace), 351(2) (criminal intimidation) and 324(4) (mischief causing damage to public property), he said.

Kolkata, Jan 6: The deadline for the Director General of West Bengal Police, Rajeev Kumar, to submit an action taken report to the Election Commission of India on an incident of heckling and attack on the ECI-appointed special observer in the South 24 Parganas district expires on Tuesday.

The ECI-appointed special roll observer, C. Murugan, an Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer, was at Magrahat in the South 24 Parganas district reviewing and supervising the hearing sessions there last month when the ruling Trinamool Congress activists allegedly attacked his vehicle and personally heckled him.

The state police were then accused of not making adequate security arrangements for Murugan, despite his trip being scheduled and the district police authorities being informed well in advance.

After that incident, Murugan sent a detailed report on the matter to the ECI’s headquarters in New Delhi, and thereafter, on January 3, the ECI sought a detailed report from DGP Kumar.

The deadline for sending the report is expiring at 5 p.m. Tuesday, and it is to be seen whether the report reaches the ECI by that time or not.

In the communique to the DGP sent on January 3, the ECI also cautioned the state police that similar lapses in the future regarding the security arrangements for the voter list observers will not be taken lightly.

Since the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) started in West Bengal from November last year, there have been several instances of heckling of electoral officers, and in almost all these cases, the ruling Trinamool Congress activists were held responsible.

Even the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), West Bengal, Manoj Kumar Agarwal, was also not spared, and there had been several instances of unruly agitations in front of his office in central Kolkata by a Trinamool Congress-backed association of booth-level officers (BLOs).

Amid such developments, last month, the Union Home Ministry decided to upgrade the security for CEO Manoj Agarwal, following the ECI’s recommendations in the matter.

The security grade for Agarwal was upgraded to ‘Y-category’, thus entitling him to security cover by Central Armed Police Forces (CAPF) personnel. At the same time, CAPF deployment will also be there at the CEO’s office in central Kolkata.

Recently, the ECI recommended to the Union Home Ministry for the deployment of CAPF at the CEO’s office, besides upgrading the personal security of the CEO.

Mumbai: A horrifying case has surfaced in Mumbai’s Mira Bhayandar under Valiv police station limits, where a 15-year-old girl fell victim to abduction, forcible religious conversion and sexual assault by a local youth, officials said on Monday.

The accused has been identified as Javed.

The two developed a friendship in their neighbourhood. Javed exploited the friendship by secretly recording her explicit photos and videos, then blackmailing her into accompanying him to Madhya Pradesh.

After the minor was taken to Madhya Pradesh, she was kept there for six months, during which she faced relentless abuse, officials said.

Javed escalated the horror by creating a fake Instagram profile using the girl’s name and photos, posting a rate card for her services per night to auction her online, they added.

According to the information received, Javed also forced her to convert to Islam and attempted to make her eat beef, compounding the trauma for the minor whose father had passed away recently.

She somehow managed to escape from the single room in Madhya Pradesh and came back home to Mumbai.

Following this, she narrated the months of abuse to her family members, who then filed an FIR at the Valiv police station.

Despite the girl filing an FIR at Valiv police station, Javed remains at large.

The victim has said that this has left her terrified as the police have failed to arrest him, and she fears for her life.

Terrified, the victim is now writing a letter to Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis, seeking urgent intervention in the case.

The police said that they are investigating the case and searching for the accused.

Further details are awaited.

This incident comes at a time when Maharashtra has experienced a continuous, well-planned campaign by Hindutva groups aimed at compelling the state government to implement a strict anti-conversion law, commonly referred to as an ‘anti-love jihad’ law.