Mumbai: Four booked for thrashing ‘molester’ in Bhandup

A screen grab from a video of the assault. Pic/Rajesh Gupta

The Bhandup police have registered an FIR against four people who allegedly beat up a man accused of molesting a woman. The incident took place on October 6 in Bhandup's Ramabai Nagar. The man entered the woman's house and allegedly molested her, after which her neighbours got to know about the incident and allegedly caught the man. The group also verbally and physically abused the man.

"I was informed by my brother's friend that a group of unknown people had brutally beaten my brother Bharat with a bat and had also kicked him. He has been admitted to Sion hospital and the doctor says he has sustained major injuries on his chest and back," the accused man's brother told the police in his statement.

The police have identified the man as Bharat Ghadge, 42, a rickshaw driver by profession. According to the police, Ghadge allegedly entered a house and molested a woman. When people in the neighbourhood got to know about the incident, they nabbed and thrashed him. They also shot videos, which show Ghadge in semi-nude condition while a group is beating him up and verbally abusing him.

"Ghadge had been admitted to hospital and he is now out of danger. We registered an FIR against him as it is alleged that he molested a woman and we also registered an FIR against the group for beating him up. Further investigations are underway," said Dattatray Khandagle, senior police inspector, Bhandup police.

Ghadge has been booked under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to outrage woman's modesty), 509 (an act intended to outrage the modesty of a woman) and 448 (trespassing) of the Indian Penal Code.

The group of men who thrashed Ghadge has been identified as Sagar Yadav, 26, Indar Jadhav, 23, Akshay Vaghote, 21 and Tushar Parkar, 29. They have been booked under IPC Sections 324 (voluntarily causing hurt), 326 (voluntarily causing grievous hurt), 504 (intentional insult) and 34 (common intention).