Pune, Aug 20 In another shocker in Maharashtra, a 19-year-old youth allegedly molested a teenage girl in the toilet of a reputed co-education private school in Pune on Independence Day, a police official said on Tuesday.
According to an official of the Samarth Police Station, the incident occurred at a school in the Bhavanipeth area and the accused has been arrested.
As per the complaint, the girl, aged around 14 and studying in Class 7, had reportedly misplaced her schoolbag and was searching for it on the second floor of the school building. At that time, the accused boy, studying in Class 10, was hovering there and he accosted her outside the girls' toilet. He allegedly grabbed the girl’s arm, dragged her inside the toilet and molested her, but somehow the girl fought free and managed to escape from there, according to the police.
Shaken by the incident, the girl went home and later informed her family who finally lodged a complaint with the Samarth Police Station late on Monday, said the official.
"We have arrested the accused boy and produced him before a court. He has been sent to police custody and is currently lodged in the Yerawada Central Jail,” Samarth Police Inspector Umesh Gitte told IANS.
Deputy Commissioner of Police Sambhaji Kadam said that the police promptly lodged the complaint, took action, and are checking the accused boy’s criminal antecedents but so far nothing incriminating has been found.
Among other charges, the accused has been slapped with sections of the POCSO Act and further investigations are underway, he said.
This is the second instance of minor girls becoming targets of sex offenders in the past few days including the alleged rape of two nursery girls in the toilet of the Adarsh Vidya Prasarak Sanstha’s school in Badlapur town of Thane on August 12-13. The incident sparked a massive furore with several thousands of Badlapur people laying siege outside the school and the local railway station for nearly 10 hours on Tuesday, before they were caned and chased away by the Thane police this evening.
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