KOLKATA: Police have arrested a 24-year-old man hours after he was accused of harassing a young woman for the past five years. The accused had allegedly been stalking and passing lewd comments for all these years, forcing the woman to curtail her social activities to a minimum, cops said.
The woman was scared as he had threatened her. However, her patience ran out after the accused — Dipak Valmiki — allegedly confined her and tried to outrage her modesty with a few friends on October 10. The police are investigating how social media was used by the accused to put pressure on the victim.
“A case under IPC sections pertaining to stalking, criminal intimidation, outraging the modesty of a woman, threat and intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace has been registered against the accused. We shall investigate further and pray to court that the state of the victim is recorded at the earliest,” a senior investigating officer from Regent Park police station said.
According to a family member, the woman was being harassed by Valmiki since 2014 soon after they met in college. They had a brief relationship, but the woman withdrew after Valmiki allegedly made an ‘indecent proposal’. He kept stalking her after she refused to meet him. The accused threatened her over text messages and harassed her by posting indecent messages on social media.
“Two of his friends had even threatened the woman, saying she will have to face consequences if she continued to rebuff his advances. This left the woman’s family scared who requested a friend to accompany her to college. This woman, too, was threatened with abduction and rape by Valmiki’s friends. “The men came on a bike and wore helmets to hide their faces,” said the family member.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
The woman was scared as he had threatened her. However, her patience ran out after the accused — Dipak Valmiki — allegedly confined her and tried to outrage her modesty with a few friends on October 10. The police are investigating how social media was used by the accused to put pressure on the victim.
“A case under IPC sections pertaining to stalking, criminal intimidation, outraging the modesty of a woman, threat and intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace has been registered against the accused. We shall investigate further and pray to court that the state of the victim is recorded at the earliest,” a senior investigating officer from Regent Park police station said.
According to a family member, the woman was being harassed by Valmiki since 2014 soon after they met in college. They had a brief relationship, but the woman withdrew after Valmiki allegedly made an ‘indecent proposal’. He kept stalking her after she refused to meet him. The accused threatened her over text messages and harassed her by posting indecent messages on social media.
“Two of his friends had even threatened the woman, saying she will have to face consequences if she continued to rebuff his advances. This left the woman’s family scared who requested a friend to accompany her to college. This woman, too, was threatened with abduction and rape by Valmiki’s friends. “The men came on a bike and wore helmets to hide their faces,” said the family member.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme Court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
Get the app