A 16-year-old girl was left with a fractured nose after she was assaulted by a man in her neighbourhood in full public view, allegedly after she protested his passing lewd comments at her.
The incident, which took place on Tuesday, was captured on a CCTV camera. The video, purportedly showing Imran Shahid Shaikh (19), who was known to the girl, attacking her, has gone viral on social and mainstream media.
The police had lodged a case on the basis of a complaint from the victim.
While Shaikh (19) was arrested and released on bail by a court earlier this week, the police this evening pressed a new charge of molestation under section 354, IPC against him and took him in custody afresh, Senior Police Inspector of Nehrunagar Police Station Pramod Khoparde said.
The video footage showed a man repeatedly hitting the girl, who slumped to the ground. The passersby did not come to her help before the man had left the scene.
According to a police official, the incident took place on October 17 near the SRA Building in Shramjeevi Nagar at around 7 pm when the girl was going to her class at Adarsh Nagar in the Thakkar Bappa Colony, Chembur with a friend.
"When she was near the building, she saw a group of youths, seated inside a parked autorickshaw, arguing loudly. The girl asked them not to make noise and then walked some distance with her friend," the official said.
However, enraged at being rebuked by her, Shaikh came out of the autorickshaw and hit her repeatedly, he said.
"Shaikh hit her on the nose with a metal object, after which she collapsed on the ground, bleeding from the nose profusely," the official said, adding that Shaikh then threatened her and fled the spot.
"The people, who witnessed the incident, did not stop Shaikh from beating her," he said.
The girl was taken to a hospital, where she was found to have suffered a nose fracture, the official said.
The girl, however, told national TV channels that Shaikh was harassing her for the last few days and that when she complained to her mother about it, she sent her elder sister to talk to the man's mother.
However, nothing changed and Shaikh continued to pass vulgar remarks at her whenever she was on her way to attend classes.
"I had told all of this to the police but they recorded something else in the statement. The police also told us not to file a case and instead, go for a compromise. We were also offered money to shut up," the girl claimed.
When asked whether the incident happened due to eve- teasing, Khoparde said the victim did not mention any such thing in her complaint.
"We have called the girl to record further statement in this case. If some new facts surface, charges will be added against the accused," he added.
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