ABVP member molested, beaten up in Agra; she claims police made her wait, registered FIR only after viral video

The police said the incident occurred around 2.30 pm on Sunday when the woman returned to her house after attending a college’s national student day programme of the ABVP.

“Lotan Singh (Vanshi Chahar’s father) was standing outside the street and told me to ‘walk in a proper manner’. I replied: ‘Ok, Baba’. As soon as I said this, he started abusing me. I told him he should not do this. Then, his son Vanshi Chahar came out (of the house) and tried to hug me (forcefully), molested me and started kicking and punching me. He told his father to bring kerosene oil and said, ‘let’s make her silent forever’,” said the woman in her complaint.

“I resisted strongly, but he pushed me down on the street and repeatedly hit me with his legs. There were many eyewitnesses to the incident, but none came to my rescue. His parents encouraged him to continue his unruly behaviour towards me,” she said in her complaint.

She added, “Somehow, I managed to escape from there even though he was trying to drag me inside his house by holding my hand. After coming home, I told the whole thing to my mother. When my mother went to his house (to complain about this), his mother said if we informed the police, she would kill my mother and family members. The woman said If she did not get us killed, he (Vanshi Chahar) would kill himself. He is a person of criminal tendency. His family will be responsible for any untoward incident in future.”

Police officials said they were attempting to arrest the main accused. “We have formed a team to arrest him. He has switched off his phone; we are trying to trace his location,” said an official.

The police said the FIR was registered under Indian Penal Code sections 307 (attempt to murder), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) and 506 (criminal intimidation).

This was the second incident within four days in which alleged laxity on the part of the Agra police in crimes against women has come to the fore.

A 17–year-old girl allegedly died by suicide on July 6 in an area under the jurisdiction of the same police station after the police did not take any action against the accused even after four months of lodging an FIR for molestation.

The alleged crime against the girl happened in Agra in January, and the police registered the FIR on February 17. But they did not act on the FIR, which forced my daughter to die by suicide,” alleged her father.

Within hours of the alleged suicide, the police arrested two people named in the FIR. The Agra police sent four police personnel to the police lines as punishment in connection with the incident.