Nagpur, May 2 (PTI) Former Maharashtra home minister and NCP (SP) leader Anil Deshmukh on Saturday demanded a death sentence for the accused arrested in connection with the sexual assault and murder of a four-year-old girl in Pune district.
He also accused the state and Central governments of passing the buck on each other on implementing the proposed Shakti Act to curb sexual crimes.
The crime was reported from a village in Bhor district. According to the police, the 65-year-old suspect allegedly lured the child with the promise of food and took her to a shed in a cattle enclosure, where he sexually assaulted her and killed her.
Terming the incident “extremely outrageous”, Deshmukh stated on X that such a shameful event occurring on Maharashtra Day does not befit the state.
He demanded that the case be tried in a fast-track court and that the accused be immediately sentenced to death by hanging.
The NCP (SP) leader claimed that emerging information suggests that the accused had also assaulted young children in the past.
“How do such criminals roam freely in society? When I was the Home Minister during the Maha Vikas Aghadi government’s tenure, we approved the Shakti Act, which is pending final approval from the Central Government.
“When there is an urgent need for this law in the state, the Centre and the state government are passing the buck to each other instead of implementing it and wasting time,” he said.
Alleging that atrocities on women and girls are on the rise in Maharashtra, Deshmukh said the Devendra Fadnavis-led government is not serious about enforcing the stringent Shakti Act.
“Had this strong law been in force, this monster (the accused) would have received the death penalty within 15 days,” he said.
The Maharashtra legislative council in March unanimously passed the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (Maharashtra Amendment) Bill 2026 to include provisions in the Shakti Bill to protect the identities of acid attack victims and ensure jail term for online sexual overtures.
The bill was earlier passed by the state assembly.
Fadnavis, who also heads the Home department, had said that the Shakti Bill was passed by the state legislature in 2020 and sent to the Centre for the President’s assent. He said the President subsequently sent it back. PTI CLS NSK
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