Out on bail in molestation case, man molests 9-year-old girl in Mumbai, arrested

According to the police, the accused allegedly molested the girl on the night of April 12 when she was returning home after buying some food from a shop. He allegedly pushed her to a dark place, gagged her and inappropriately touched her multiple times before the girl managed to escape.

“The girl was scared and disturbed and was not behaving normally. On April 24, when the girl’s family visited a restaurant for dinner, her mother suspected something amiss with her daughter’s weird behaviour. The mother and the girl’s elder sister asked her what had happened and she narrated her ordeal,” said an officer.

The family then approached the Trombay police and lodged a complaint. The police team scanned the CCTV of the spot and got a picture of the suspect. But as the picture in the dark was not clear, the police circulated the blurred image to police informants to identify the accused.

“The accused was arrested from a place near a hotel. The victim identified him through his photo. The accused admitted to his crime,” the police said.

The police booked the accused under sections 354 (molestation), 354A (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 8 (sexual assault) and 12 (sexual harassment) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (Pocso) Act. He was previously arrested for allegedly molesting a woman.

The police said the victim was terrorised by the crime. “She was scared when we showed the photo to identify the accused. We will help the girl overcome this situation through counselling,” they added.