Mothers of four minor boys who ‘harassed’ girl arrested by Budaun police; SHO says wanted to ‘teach them a lesson’

Vijendra Dwivedi, SP City, Budaun district, said he is unaware of the case and the arrests of the four women, and added that he would seek details from the SHO.

Speaking to The Indian Express, Ajay Pal Singh, SHO of the police station concerned, said a case was lodged on Wednesday after the parents of a teenage girl alleged that four boys from the village passed lewd remarks and harassed her on her way to school and back.

The FIR was lodged under sections of the BNS and POCSO Act.

The boys, under the age of 13, belong to a minority community, the SHO said, while the girl is from another community.

He said that since the boys are minors, they were not detained, and their mothers were arrested on Friday after a notice regarding the case was served at their homes. SHO Singh said parents are served notices in cases of minors facing an offence.

The women were arrested under BNSS Section 170 (arrest to prevent commission of cognizable offences). Sub-section 1 states that a police officer, knowing of a design to commit any cognizable offence, may arrest, without orders from a Judicial Magistrate and without a warrant, the person so designing, if it appears to such officer that the commission of the offence cannot be otherwise prevented.

Asked why the mothers were arrested, SHO Singh said, “These four boys are ill-mannered and known to indulge in nefarious activities. A message should be sent and a lesson taught to such parents… for not imparting good values and ensuring a better upbringing of their children, due to which they commit such offences.”

“The fathers of all four, employed out of Uttar Pradesh, will also be arrested once they are home,” Singh said. The girl was allegedly being harassed by the boys for the past several days, he said.

The four women were released after submitting personal bonds before the sub-divisional magistrate court, where they were produced on the same day as the arrest.