A horrifying case of sexual assault has come to light in the Bandra area of Mumbai, where a 16-year-old girl was molested by a man in a moving auto-rickshaw. The accused also allegedly threatened the victim and the rickshaw driver with a knife. Bandra police registered a case under relevant sections of the Bhartiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act. The accused was arrested within a few hours and is to be produced in a special POCSO court on Tuesday.
According to police officials, the minor girl, a student at a prominent college in Bandra, had left home for college around noon on Monday. As she boarded a rickshaw on S.V. Road near Boston Hotel, an unknown man suddenly entered the vehicle, claiming he was only going a short distance.
Moments later, the man began making lewd comments and proceeded to molest the girl while the rickshaw was in motion. When the driver attempted to intervene, the accused reportedly brandished a knife and threatened to kill both the driver and the girl if they resisted.
Taking advantage of the next traffic signal, the accused jumped out of the rickshaw and fled. The shaken girl asked the rickshaw driver to take her back home. After reaching home, she narrated the incident to her parents, who rushed to the Bandra Police Station to file a complaint.
Based on the girl's statement, the police immediately lodged an FIR against unknown accused.During the investigation of the incident, the police had seized CCTV footage from the area. Based on this footage and technical information, the police had detained a 22-year-old youth for questioning late at night. During the interrogation, he confessed to committing the crime. After this confession, the police arrested him.