The death prompted several women and community organisations to make representations to various authorities — including the state commission for women, the commissioner of police and the senior inspector of Baner police station. It spurred an angry protest on Sunday by Baner-Balewadi residents who sought justice.The Baner Balewadi Pashan Residents’ Association (BBPRA)’s representation to the state commission for women sought their suo motu cognisance. It urged the panel seek a status report on the FIR and investigations, so far, and demanded an independent and gender-sensitive inquiry into allegations of abuse and exploitation.“We received the representation on Sunday. We have started to look into the matter, telling the police to send us all details of the case,” Chakankar told TOI on Monday.Initially, the Baner police registered a case of accidental death. After the public outcry and a complaint lodged by the woman’s brother, they registered a case against the uncle (45) and aunt (40) under sections 108 (abetment of suicide), 115 (2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 352 (causing intentional insult) and 3(5) (common motive) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita.Senior inspector Chandrashekhar Sawant of the Baner police told TOI: “We do not have details of the 2016 incident which was reported to the Chatushrungi police station. In the present case, we told the victim’s brother and mother to file a complaint the day the death was reported to us. The brother agreed after the family returned with members of their community following his sister’s final rites in Rajasthan.”Sawant said, “We requested an in-camera post-mortem as this was the second death under similar circumstances. The autopsy report confirmed death by suicide, with no marks of assault — physical or sexual. Viscera samples were sent to the Forensic Sciences Laboratory for further analysis. We are investigating all angles. We served a notice to the uncle, but he was not home. We will take a call on his arrest depending on further investigation.“
