8 women booked for ‘disrobing, molesting’ Mumbai teen over suspicion of openly discarding sanitary pads

According to the police, the incident occurred in March at the staff quarters of the Brihanmumbai Electric Supply and Transport (BEST) in Borivali, but the girl’s family filed the complaint recently.

As per the police complaint filed by the girl’s mother, four women living in their building barged into their house along with four other unknown women.

The accused were angry and said they suspected that the complainant’s daughter was dumping used sanitary pads and undergarments in the backyard of their society.

They abused the woman and her teenage daughter and, in a bid to check her undergarment, they pulled her forcefully, disrobed her, and also inappropriately touched her, the complainant alleged in the First Information Report (FIR).

They are also accused of having used vulgar language while abusing the mother-daughter duo.

A police officer from Borivali said the complainant’s family has had a longstanding dispute with the families of the accused over the allotment of rooms at the BEST staff quarters.

The accused women have filed several grievances against the complainant’s family with the BEST administration over this dispute, the police said.

“Earlier, the complainant woman filed a police complaint against the same set of accused women over the disrobing incident but withdrew it later. As she filed a complaint again, we recorded her statement and booked all eight women on Tuesday. No arrest has been made yet, and the probe is on,” said an officer from Borivali police station.

The eight women have been booked under sections 74 (criminal force with intent to outrage her modesty), 76 (criminal force to a woman with intent to disrobe), 79 (words intended to insult the modesty of a woman), and 329(4) (criminal trespassing) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and sections 8 and 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (Pocso) Act.