Mumbai molestation case: Cops book waiter who refused to help teen

Mumbai Police has arrested a waiter at a Kandivli restaurant for refusing to help a teen who was molested and chased by goons. The girl had run into the restaurant asking for help but the waiter had forced her to leave the premises. According to a Times of India report, “The waiter, Pappu Kumar Yadav (20), has been booked under section 114 of IPC (abettor present when offence is committed) as the police want to send out a strong message that even watching a crime happen and refusing help to the survior is not done.” “The girl said she ran towards the restaurant as the men were chasing her. But someone at the restaurant asked her to leave. We then started a process to identify if this person was a staffer or customer. On Thursday, she identified him to be Yadav,” senior inspector Anant Koli told TOI.  [caption id=“attachment_1431893” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational picture of Mumbai police. Reuters[/caption] The teen had been molested  by a group of young men in a broad daylight in suburban Kandivali on Monday.  She and her friend had taken an auto to the area and she had later got into an argument with the auto driver over the fare. While she and the driver started arguing with her loudly, some young men who were playing cricket nearby went to the spot and started harassing her.  When the girl tried to move away from them, the men chased her, caught her and tried to strip her, police had said. Three persons identified as Fayyaz Ahmed Khan, Saroj Khan and Naushad Khan were arrested and booked under section 354 (molestation) of Indian Penal Code. After she was driven out of the roadside restaurant where she sought help, the girl tried to enter another autorickshaw, but was dragged out by the accused, police said. Her ordeal ended, when some motorists stopped and rescued her by driving off the men. A beat marshal constable also reached the spot and took one of the youths into custody, they said. The case has once again raised the issue of safety in Mumbai.  With Yadav’s arrest, police have sought to send out a message that those who standby and not help victims are just as liable as the perpetrators of the act.  Whether the arrest will ensure that more bystanders come to help of female victims remains to be be seen. With inputs from PTI