Here’s how 2 Mumbai children fought off man who undressed them, asked them to sit on his lap

Two minors fought off a man who started undressing them on the pretext of teaching them how to box and tackle molesters. Bhandup police arrested the 25-year-old accused from his residence. One of the minors is his 11-year-old niece.

In the last week of May, the accused asked his niece and her 12-year-old friend to accompany him to his mother’s place, claiming that she wanted to talk to them.

The 11-year-old girl’s cousin was also at the house. The accused asked him to go outside and play. He then told the other two children he would teach them boxing and other ways to fight molesters.

“The accused started undressing the two and asked them to sit on his lap. One of the victims kicked him. The three children then fled. The accused threatened them, saying he would hurt them if they revealed the incident to anyone,” added the officer.

Scared of the consequences and social stigma, the two children decided not to speak up about the incident. However, after the girl kept meeting her uncle, she broke down and told her mother what had happened.

“The two children and their mother came to the police station. We registered a case against the man. A team was dispatched. The accused was nabbed at his house,” said an officer.

The police booked him under sections 354 (a) (physical contact and advances involving unwelcome and explicit sexual overtures), 354 (b) (assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe) and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code, along with sections 8 and 12 under Protection of Children under Sexual Offences Act, 2012.

Past instances

February 2017: Quick thinking helped an eight-year-old boy evade a madarsa teacher who was trying to sodomise him, said police. When the accused tried to force himself onto the boy, he stabbed the man with a pen and fled. The boy later said many onlookers saw him being taken to the teacher’s room, but no one tried to intervene. “Even as I was being assaulted in the room, a woman knocked on the door and asked what was happening. I could not yell as the man had gagged me. He told the woman that his relative’s son was crying. She was satisfied with the explanation and left. The teacher overpowered me, but on seeing an opportunity, I removed my pen, stabbed him and escaped,” he added.

October 2014: A little girl saved her mother from big trouble. When a history-sheeter entered their Mulund home and tried to rape the woman, her four-year-old daughter escaped and raised an alarm. Locals rushed to the spot and prevented the assault.

February 2013: An eleven-year-old girl managed to escape a 60-year-old sexual offender in a Mumbai suburb thanks to three teenagers. The accused, Kawal Jaiswal, was allegedly intoxicated at the time of the incident. He tried to force the girl into a secluded location. However, the three teens rescued her.