27-year old stalker held for harassing minor in Mumbai

A 27-year-old man was recently arrested for harassing, stalking, abusing and manhandling a minor girl in Khar (East), after she refused to get into a relationship with him.

At first, the 16-year-old victim was scared to approach the police, fearing the consequences but later filed a complaint after a friend advised her to do so.

According to the Nirmal Nagar police, the girl met the arrested accused, about a year ago, through common friends. The accused is a resident of Kherwadi in Bandra (east).

For the past few months, the accused had been trying to get the girl to go into a relationship with him. The girl refused his proposal but he kept insisting.

“The accused started stalking her. On October 13, he confronted her and started abusing. She wanted to file a police complaint but got scared. A day later, the accused stopped her again and grabbed her hand. When she tried to pull free, he manhandled her,” said an officer. “The victim remained quiet because she was scared. However, she mustered courage later and registered an FIR with us on November 3. We started looking for the man and acting on a tip off, arrested him on November 8.”

The accused has been booked under sections 354 A, D for sexual harrassment and stalking, Section 323 for voluntarily causing hurt, Section 504 for intentional insult under the Indian Penal Code and sections 10 and 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences.He was produced before a sessions court and remanded in police custody for two days. He was later sent to judicial custody.