The Bhayandar Police have arrested a 20-year-old youth for allegedly molesting a 13-year-old girl and threatening her to wear a burkha and elope with him. However, when the girl refused to wear the burkha, a ring and a chain given by the boy, the boy used a ‘fake” gun to threaten her. The police have also arrested a friend of the accused youth for helping him.
According to the police officials, the accused youth and the girl were having a love relationship since past few weeks and had decided to runaway and get married.
On June 12, at around 8:30pm the girl allegedly met the accused and his friend on the terrace of her building.
As per girl’s mother’s complaint, the accused and his friend molested her daughter on the terrace of her building and using a fake gun allegedly forced her to wear the burkha. But the girl refused their demands and somehow managed to escape.
She then approached her parents and narrated them the entire story.
Since the accused and victim stay in common locality, after the matter got public, members of concerned residential societies, on June 15 had arranged for a collective meeting in a nearby garden to discuss the issue between the boy and the girl.
“The discussion soon turned violent and we received a call from some locals stating that a crowd had turned violent and were beating up two men. We had to intervene,” said MB Patil, senior inspector at Bhayandar Police Station.
“After girl’s mother’s complaint, we arrested the accused youths,” Patil added.
The police have arrested the offenders under sections 354 (molestation), 354A (sexual harassment), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the indian Penal Code and under relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012 .
The accused were produced before a court in Thane on Saturday and were remanded to judicial custody.