Thane man gets jail for flashing at teenage girl

A court in Maharashtras Thane has sentenced a man to jail for allegedly flashing at a 17yearold girl in 2022 reported news agency PTIThe convict Mehafuj Maksood Aalam Shaikh has already undergone a prison term of nearly 17 monthsIn the order the court said the Thane man shall be at liberty to get setoff under section 428 of Code of Criminal Procedure CrPC for the period he has already undergone in jail reported PTIThe incident had occurred on September 7 2022 when the Thane man flashed at the teenage girl near a hotel in Shanti Nagar area of Thane Based on a complaint filed by the victim the police arrested him a few days later the prosecution said reported PTIIn the order passed on February 12 special court judge D S Deshmukh hearing cases pertaining to the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences POCSO Act held Shaikh guilty under Indian Penal Code IPC section 509 insulting the modesty of any woman by uttering any word making a sound or gesture or exhibiting any object reported PTIIt imposed a fine of Rs 5000 on him and directed that the fine amount recovered from the accused be paid to the victim as compensation and referred the case to the District Legal Services Authority DLSA for further compensation to the victimIn another case a man allegedly sexually assaulted a sevenyearold girl in Maharashtras Palghar district and fled to Surat in neighbouring Gujarat from where he was arrested two days later police said on Saturday reported PTIThe incident occurred on Tuesday at Achole in Palghar they saidDuring a probe the police found that the 28yearold accused who hails from Rajasthan had also allegedly molested another girl a few months back in Palghar an official said reported PTIAround 1230 pm on February 13 the accused entered the victims building and forcibly took her to the terrace where he committed unnatural sexual assault on her senior inspector Shahuraj Ranavre of crime unitII in Vasai said reported PTIBased on a complaint lodged by the victim a case was registered under Indian Penal Code IPC sections 377 unnatural offences and 363 kidnapping and the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences POCSO Act at Achole police station he saidThe crime branch officials formed a couple of teams to trace the accused They checked the CCTV footage of the locality and found that he lived in a slum colony in Nalasopara in the district As per the intelligence inputs the police came to know that the accused was travelling by Ajmer Express he said reported PTIA police team followed him and nabbed him in Surat with the help of the local crime branch officials within 48 hours he saidDuring his interrogation it came to light that the accused had dragged another sevenyearold girl in Nalasopara to an isolated place and tried to molest her Ranavre said reported PTIA case under IPC section 354 assault or use of criminal force to any woman intending to outrage her modesty and the POCSO Act was registered at Tulinj police station in connection with that incident he saidWith inputs from PTI