Bengaluru: The CCTV footage of a young girl being violently groped and molested by two scooter-borne louts on an empty road on New Year’s day, in a residential neighbourhood – 5th Main, Lawrence Road, Kammanahalli – barely one-and-a-half kilometers from the nearest Banaswadi police station has once again, sent shockwaves across the country and added to the sense of disgust and outrage among Bengalureans, that only reinforces the fears of young women at the receiving end of unwanted male attention and violence, a day after reports of the mass molestation on Brigade Road on New Year’s eve.
As shocking as the molestation is the action – or should that be inaction – of a group of men gathered on the main road who silently watched as the girl was grabbed, groped and battered and thrown to the ground, and did not lift a finger to help her. Even as she is seen fighting the driver of the two wheeler who pulls her towards his accomplice who also molests her, the group disperses and the accused speed away, switching on the tail lights so that CCTV cannot pick up their number plates.
Police told Deccan Chronicle that they had detained 12 men for questioning from the area, and paraded four, and that one of them had confessed to the crime. He will be produced before the public on Thursday, sources told DC.
Talking about the incident Bengaluru Police Commissioner Praveen Sood said, “It is a clear case of molestation. We do not need a formal complaint because the video is graphic. We have registered a First Information Report (FIR) of molestation against the two unknown persons in the Banaswadi police station. We will hunt the perpetrators down. It is a very serious issue.”
“The police have registered FIR (Crime number 10/17 under Section 341 (wrongful restraint) read with Section 354 (a) & (b) (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty). We have formed a special team to investigate the incident. As the victim has not filed a complaint so far, we are trying to find her in the area and record evidence” said Additional Commissioner Hemant Nimbalkar.
Footage Fell into police lap by accident
Fact is, police may or may not have tracked down the molester and thief. The footage, in reality, fell into the police's hands completely by accident.
The two girls who can be seen exiting the autorickshaw which stopped at the top of the deserted lane, left the auto, several minutes apart. The first girl got home, the second was waylaid by the two scooter-borne goons who not only molested her but also robbed her.
It was this girl who came to the house where the CCTV camera was installed, who asked the house-owner to let her see the footage as she had no cash or debit cards after she had been assaulted and robbed. After the girls saw the CCTV footage and left, it was this man who called the Banaswadi police and showed them the footage. Suo motu? We don't think so?
Did bystanders not hear her screams?
The footage was captured around 2.30 am on January 1 by a private CCTV camera, which was mounted on the 5th Main Road in Kamanahalli, Bengaluru (East) by a family, which lives there.
It shows two girls sitting inside an autorickshaw that stops at the beginning of the lane. One of them gets out and walks away. The second one pays the autorickshaw driver, steps out of the three-wheeler and starts walking inside the lane, when she suddenly spots the two men on a scooter, who are accosting her. She stops for few seconds and begins to walk fast towards her PG accommodation. One of the perverts gets down from the scooter, catches hold of the girl and forces himself upon her. He gropes and molests her even as she tries to resist him and at one point even hits out at her predator but he overpowers her. He then pulls her to his accomplice on the rider seat on the scooter and he also molests her. She resists them again, when the brutes push her away and she falls on the road. The onlookers meanwhile, disperse and the accused speed away.
The owners of the CCTV camera had handed it over to the jurisdictional deputy commissioner of police. "It is a clear case of molestation. We do not need a formal complaint because the video is graphic. We have registered a First Information Report (FIR) of molestation against the two unknown persons at the Banaswadi police station. We will hunt the perpetrators down. It is a very serious issue," said new City Police Commissioner Praveen Sood.
"The police have registered FIR (Crime number 10/17 under Section 341 (wrongful restraint) read with Section 354 (a) & (b) (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty). We have formed a special team to investigate the incident. As the victim has not filed a complaint so far, we are trying to find her in the area and record evidence," said Additional Commissioner Hemant Nimbalkar.
The police on Wednesday paraded 12 suspects for identification, but in the absence of the complainant, verification of the accused might take some time, said another officer.
The two brutes caught molesting the girl were reportedly following the girls from the club, where they had allegedly gone to celebrate the New Year party.
