Nearly 300 people had gathered to teach a lesson to a 22-year-old, who had molested a nine-year-old girl in a building; police arrive in the nick of time to save the accused
Police action in the nick of time prevented a 300-strong mob from fatally hurting a 22-year-old on Friday night On September 7, Salman Hussain Momin, a resident of Kherwadi, went into the lift of his building and found a nine-year-old girl from the society alone.
He allegedly molested her in the lift and threatened to kill her if she spoke about the incident. When the lift reached the ground floor, the girl shouted for help and Momin fled. He wasn’t seen in the society until Friday, when, assuming that things would have cooled down, he decided to go back home.
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However, when Momin was walking into the society around 10 pm, the survivor was downstairs with her father. She pointed Momin out and chaos ensued. Momin rushed to his house and locked himself inside and, within minutes, nearly 300 angry people had gathered outside his door and all over the building to deny him any escape routes.
“Around 2 am, the mob fury was at its peak and they planned to break open the door and kill Momin,” said a Kherwadi police official. One alert citizen, however, called the police and they reached the building in large numbers. Officials said Momin, too, had called a few people to help him escape the fury of the “murderous” mob.
After a long struggle, the police managed to calm the mob down enough to extract Momin from the society. He was taken to the police station, arrested and charged with molestation and threatening the girl’s life.
“If we had reached a little late that night, the mob would have probably even killed Momin. A major incident was averted,” the official added.