Saloon owner held for sexually harassing minor

PUNE: A 24-year-old saloon owner was arrested on Monday for sexually harassing a 16-year-old girl while testing her skills for a job at the facility in Wakad.
“The man recorded the entire act on a hidden cellphone and threatened to make it public if she told her parents about the incident,” Wakad police sub-inspector Mohan Jadhav said.

Terrified by the experience, the girl left her house on Saturday without informing her parents, the police said. Her parents found the girl two days later. “She then told them about the incident. Her parents came to the police station and lodged a complaint,” Jadhav said.

The police arrested the man under section 354-A (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act.

Jadhav said the man had told the neighbouring shop owners that he needed two women employees to work in his saloon. “After the girl heard of this, she went to meet him for the job on Friday,” he said.

The saloon owner told the girl that he would take a trial before offering her a job. “He took her to a compartment in the saloon and asked her to do a facial. He had, however, hidden a cellphone in the compartment,” Jadhav said.

While the girl was doing a facial on the man, he sexually assaulted her. “Later, he showed the recording and threatened to make the clip viral if she revealed anything. He also told the girl to join the saloon from the following day,” the officer said.

When the girl did not turn up, he called her several times on her cellphone and asked her to come to work. “Frightened by the calls, the girl left her house. She was missing for two days. Her parents traced her on Monday,” Jadhav said.

A local court on Tuesday sent the man in police custody for two days.