Auto driver stalks, molests eight-year-old girl in Kandivali, arrested

This picture has been used for representational purposes

The Samata Nagar police arrested an auto-rickshaw driver for stalking and molesting an eight-year-old girl while on her way to her dance classes in Kandivali. The man was arrested during a nakabandi at Kandivli railway station on Saturday, Hindustan Times reported.

The man, identified as Harish Mishra, lived to a slum adjacent to a building where the girl stays. According to the police, he did not have a criminal history. The incident happened on Friday at around 7.30 pm, when the minor girl was going to her dance classes in a building in Ashok Nagar with her 11-year-old friend.

Mishra spotted the girl at the gate and followed her inside. According to the police, when the girl was taking the stairs, Mishra caught her leg and pulled her towards him. Her friend ran upstairs while girl managed to free herself from Mishra's hold and ran behind her. He then fled the spot but his face was captured in the CCTV camera installed inside the building.

The girl reported the incident to her dance teacher who informed her parents and they filed a complaint against Mishra. As per the image of the accused given to the police, a woman sub-inspector from Samata Nagar police station arrested Mishra during a nakabandi at Kandivali railway station.

An FIR was filed in this regard in which Mishra was charged under sections 354 (assault on woman with intent of outraging her modesty), 354 D (stalking) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 4 (penetrative sexual assault) and 8 (sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POSCO) Act.

A police officer said that the Mishra was produced before a sessions court on Sunday and has been remanded in police custody till March 11.

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