The girl had been in the city since November 2019 and was working in a hotel in Kurla
This picture has been used for representational purposes
A taxi driver and his friend were arrested for molesting a 17-year-old girl from Bengaluru in a moving car while on her way to Pune. The two men have been booked under various sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act, 2012.
According to the Indian Express, the girl had been in the city since November 2019 and was working in a hotel in Kurla. She met an 18-year-old boy while working in the hotel with whom she moved in. On June 26, the boy committed suicide by jumping from an overbridge in Dharavi and his family blamed the girl for his suicide. The police did not book her but sent her to a children’s home as she is a minor. Later, she was produced in front of the Child Welfare Committee (CWC) which directed the police to send the girl to her home in Bengaluru. However, the police could not comply with the order due to the lockdown.
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After a week of staying at the children’s home, she fell ill and was taken to a hospital. On July 11, the girl ran away from the hospital and the authorities informed the police.
During the investigation, the police came across a CCTV footage of the girl talking to multiple taxi drivers. An officer was quoted as saying that the girl wanted to go to Pune, from where she wanted to board a bus to Bengaluru, so she was requesting the taxi drivers to drop her to Pune.
After requesting multiple taxi drivers, the girl boarded the accused’s cab who told her that he would drop her in Pune. The accused’s friend was also in the vehicle. The girl was molested by the two men in the cab.
The police traced the cab driver’s vehicle to Mumbra and informed the Thane police control room. "At around 3 pm on Saturday, we caught the accused from the car and rescued the girl," the officer was quoted as saying.
The two men have been booked for kidnapping and assault with intent to outrage a woman’s modesty under Sections 354 and 363 of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 8 and 12 of the POCSO Act. They were produced in the POCSO court and were remanded to police custody for three days. The girl’s statement was recorded by the court on Monday.
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