Assault on Kurla girl: POCSO Act added to case, accused remanded in police custody

Man caught on CCTV hitting a girl in Mumbai. (Source: screen grab/ANI video)

A local court Sunday remanded in police custody a 19-year-old youth who is facing charges of assaulting a teen girl in Kurla last week. Accused Imran Shaikh had secured bail following his arrest soon after the incident. However, the police added sections of the stringent POCSO Act and other charges to the case against him after more details emerged, and arrested him again Saturday as his bail was cancelled.

The incident took place Tuesday evening in Nehru Nagar, Kurla East, when a 17-year-old girl was walking to her tuition class with a friend. According to the police, Shaikh was sitting in a parked autorickshaw at that time and talking loudly with a friend. While passing him by, the girl asked Shaikh to be silent, the police said. An angry Shaikh then assaulted her, hitting her repeatedly on the face and arms. CCTV cameras in the building captured the incident and the footage shows a crowd intervening to help the girl and overpower Shaikh. The police initially booked him for voluntarily causing hurt and other charges under sections 324 and 506 of the IPC. However, as these were bailable sections, Shaikh was released after he paid a bail bond.

The video of the assault had gone viral on the internet.

On Saturday, the police received additional documents from the hospital where the girl was treated for her injuries. DCP, Zone VI, Shahaji Umap said radiological reports showed she had suffered a fracture to her nose. “The victim recorded a supplementary statement Saturday as per her wish,” said Umap. The police then sought permission from the court to book Shaikh further with outraging the modesty of the woman and voluntarily causing grievous hurt using dangerous weapons and means under the IPC and also sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.

Umap added that the court accepted the police’s application to cancel Shaikh’s bail bond, after which he was re-arrested Saturday. Shaikh was produced before a court Sunday which sent him to police custody until October 25. Umap said the investigation was being conducted by a woman inspector at Tilak Nagar police station.