By Sharad Vyas, TNN | Dec 12, 2012, 02.22 AM IST

NAGPUR: Maharashtra home minister RR Patil has for the first time admitted that womenconstables were molested during the violence that broke out at Azad Maidan on August 11.

Patil rubbished claims that some of the women constables committed suicide while some others left service. He told the legislative council that no action would be initiated against senior officers who had allegedly tried to hush up the matter.

“There arises no question of their (women constables) morale being affected as a result of the actions of their seniors because no such thing (hushing up of the matter) ever happened. Even though molestation did take place, nobody has committed suicide or left the service as a result of the incident,” he said in a written reply to the legislative council during the Question Hour on Tuesday.

Patil’s statement is significant as no senior government authority had at the time presented a clear picture of what actually transpired during the rioting in which two persons died and 63 people were injured. Even though the molestation incident was officially denied at the onset, the incident did eventually find a mention in the charge sheet.

The police found it difficult to convince the traumatized victims to come forward, register complaints and identify the accused. The nine women constables had also identified four accused during an identification parade at Taloja jail in Thane. Taking note of the incident, the women’s commission, too, had conducted an inquiry and submitted its report to the government. So far, the report has not being made public by the home department.

Patil was replying to a question posed by Shiv Sena‘s Neelam Gorhe and Vinayak Raut, among several other members of the council. When was Patil asked what steps the government took to ensure proper care for the constables, he merely said that their senior staff had provided them counselling.