Molestation of Class 7 girl sparks fresh safety concerns in Bengal’s Baruipur, two minors held

Kolkata: The Baruipur police of West Bengal detained two minors for allegedly harassing and molesting a seventh-standard girl student on the road in the South 24 Parganas district, a senior officer of the Baruipur Police District said on Thursday.

The incident, which has sparked fresh safety concerns in the area, took place on Wednesday afternoon when the student was walking home from school accompanied by her younger brother. The two minor suspects pursued her along the road before physically blocking her path. The duo engaged in indecent behaviour, demanding her name and mobile number.

The confrontation escalated rapidly as the minor accused grabbed her hand, pulled her forcibly, and attempted to abduct her from the spot, prompting the victim to raise an alarm.

Local residents rushed to the scene upon hearing her scream and apprehended one of the suspects. The victim’s family subsequently lodged a formal complaint at the Baruipur police station. The police immediately launched a search and apprehended the second suspect later in the evening.

“Both minors have been formally detained and will be produced before the Juvenile Justice Board on Thursday for transferring them to a juvenile home,” a senior police officer said, confirming that medical examinations for the victim were completed at a local government hospital.

The girl’s mother expressed severe distress over the lapse in public safety while demanding strict legal action.

“They were pushing and shoving her in the middle of the road. My daughter was terrified and tried to hurry home, but they blocked her, asked for her phone number, and pulled her hand. Where is the protection for young girls if such incidents happen openly on public roads? We demand maximum punishment for the accused under the law,” she said.

The incident highlights a concerning series of crimes against women in the Baruipur area.

On July 14, the police arrested a person for taking a minor girl to a rented house in Baruipur and trying to rape her. The minor had left her home in Barrackpore in North 24 Parganas district and was lured by the accused after she met him at Sealdah railway station.

Earlier, on July 5 this year, tension gripped Baruipur’s Suryapur area following the recovery of a minor girl’s body in a local pond after an alleged gang-rape and murder.

The recovery triggered intense public outrage and a mob lynching that wrongly claimed the life of an innocent resident, Indrajit Mandal.

The police subsequently arrested four primary suspects in that case, one of whom, Pravas Mondal, was killed in a police encounter while attempting to escape custody using a snatched firearm.

IANS