Four suspects were detained after a CCTV footage of a woman getting molested by two men riding a scooter in the Kammanahalli area of Bengaluru on the New Year's Eve went viral. The police also filed an FIR after they found "credible evidence" in connection with the mass molestation case at MG Road and Brigade Road the same night.
The video shows two scooter-borne men approaching the woman after she got off an auto-rickshaw and entered a lane to reach home. The men blocked the woman's way after getting off their vehicle and groped her. However, none of the passers-by came to her rescue even as the woman tried to fend the attackers off. They ultimately threw her on the road and fled.
An FIR was registered in the case on Tuesday (January 3) night, the deputy commissioner of police (DCP) in East Bengaluru was quoted by ANI as saying.
Several women were molested, groped, harassed and stalked while they were celebrating at MG Road and Brigade Road on the New Year's Eve despite the deployment of 1,500 police personnel in the area. Eyewitnesses claimed the miscreants also passed lewd remarks at women as they tried to escape the street parties that were happening in these posh areas of the city.
Police working silently on mass molestation: Bengaluru CP
Bengaluru's new Commissioner of Police Praveen Sood said in a series of tweets that the police were working "silently" on the mass molestation case on MG Road and Brigade Road and that they had found "credible evidence" in the case. He added that an enquiry was being carried out by an officer of the DCP rank who has gone through footage of 45 cameras installed at MG Road. The police have also got the unedited footage from the night of December 31.
Enquiry conducted by a DCP rank officer has gone through feed from 45 cameras at MG road. Unedited video available with police.
— Praveen Sood IPS (@CPBlr) January 3, 2017
"As promised, we have found credible evidence... in a case of wrongful confinement, molestation and attempt to rob. We have taken action by registering a FIR. Investigation is in progress. Police is working.... though silently," Sood said on Twitter.
Sood had said on Twitter on Jan 2: "If any lady gives complaint of molestation on 31st Dec, police will not waste even a minute to register a case and start investigation. Even without a complainant, if police finds credible evidence of molestation, a case will be registered suo motto without waiting. If we are given coordinates of any lady molested on 31st at M G Rd, we the police will visit her and take appropriate action without delay."
Sood has referred the case to the city's crime bureau to speed up the process.
"Police teams are... confident of arresting the accused. We have nothing to hide and no one to protect. I assure we will make the city safer by taking action against the accused," Sood told reporters.
The Bengaluru Police had earlier said that no one had come forward to file a complaint against the incident that happened on the New Year's Eve.
#Correction #CaughtonCam: Two scooter-borne men molest a girl in Kammanahalli area in Bengaluru (Source: Unverified) pic.twitter.com/fAKPfMkoOz — ANI (@ANI_news) January 4, 2017
