BENGALURU:A college student and budding model was allegedly molested by a group of men on Kempegowda International Airport road on Sunday night. The girl alleged that she was riding pillion on a bike with a male friend when some men stopped and abused them, assaulted her friend and misbehaved with her ‘for not knowing Kannada’.
The incident happened around 9pm on the service road near A2B restaurant.The duo later approached Chikkajala police and filed a complaint.
The complainant, a resident of Thindlu, said she was going with her friend on the bike when a scooterist came from the opposite direction and stopped their vehicle.
“He started abusing us despite our telling him he was the one who came from the wrong side. He snatched the bike keys. Soon about 40 people in the locality came out, surrounded us and started slapping and hitting my friend. When he tried to defend himself, more people joined and hit him. I tried to save him but the people started molesting me. They touched me all over and pushed me to the ground. They threatened me with dire consequences when I tried to shout for help and started to cry. Somehow, my friend managed to snatch the keys from the men and we escaped,” she said, adding, “I called my mother and she immediately dialled 100 but she did not know my exact location.”
When the news went viral in the media, Chikkajala police swung into action and arrested four men, including the scooterist Manjunath and his friends Ravi, Krishna and Praveen. All are residents of Sonnenahalli village and have been booked under IPC sections 506, 323, 504 and 354.
A senior police officer told Express that Manjunath, during interrogation, alleged that the complainant’s friend was riding the bike in a zigzag manner and it angered him as he was coming from the opposite direction.
"We were humiliated and abused because we could not converse in Kannada. They forced us to kneel down and apologize for not being able to communicate in Kannada. It was a terrifying time for me and my friend.
We were travelling from Soul Sante when a man intercepted us at Airport Road service lane near A2B at 8.30 pm. The man was coming from the opposite side on Honda Activa with the lights off, because of which we could not see him.
When he started approaching towards us, we asked him what was the matter.
He started abusing us in Kannada and took our bike key. I asked him to speak in Hindi or English as we do not follow the local language. However, his tone started increasing.
In a matter of seconds, around 50 people gathered around us. He told us he did not want to listen to us as we do not know Kannada. Suddenly, he along with a few others slapped my friend. I requested them to stop.
As I went on pleading, he grabbed my hand. Some other people standing there started pushing me. Then he started touching my upper body portion. I started crying. They warned if I cry they would continue with their act. We repeatedly requested them to let us go. They told us they would not let us go home until and unless we kneel down and apologize for not being familiar with Kannada. Since we had no other option to escape the situation, we followed their orders.
Luckily, my friend somehow managed to grab the key of the bike and we escaped. On my way, I called my mother and narrated about the entire incident. The police were really helpful, including DCP Harsha. I have been told that four of them are arrested."