 "Rape")
A 23-year-old woman was allegedly molested by a male co-passenger in a shared auto rickshaw and later thrown out of the vehicle in the city, police said on Friday.
The incident comes close on the heels of a woman being raped and her nine-month-old baby smothered and flung to the ground by three men travelling with her in a shared auto in Gurgaon.
The Thane victim, who sustained injuries due to the fall yesterday night, was rescued by some passersby and admitted to a hospital where she is undergoing treatment, they said.
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When the auto rickshaw proceeded a little distance, the co-passenger allegedly started touching her inappropriately to which she objected and raised an alarm, Thane police PRO Sukhada Narkar said.
However, the auto driver, instead of paying attention to the alarm raised by her, took a turn and headed the vehicle towards Pokhran Road No. 2 in Thane.
Later, the co-passenger and the auto driver allegedly beat up the woman. They pushed her out of the vehicle at an isolated spot on Pokhran Road and fled, Narkar said.
Some passersby found the woman lying on the road and took her to a hospital.
Narkar said four police teams have been formed to trace the auto rickshaw driver and the unidentified passenger.
The city's Naupada police have registered offences under IPC sections pertaining to molestation, kidnapping, physical assault and criminal intimidation.
In August 2014, a 24-year-old software professional, had suffered serious injuries, when she jumped from a moving auto rickshaw in Thane after the driver allegedly tried to abduct her.
The incident had also taken place around 9.15 pm, when she boarded the rickshaw at Kapurbawdi Naka, which is near Pokhran Road No. 2, to reach her residence at Kolshet in the city.
