BENGALURU: After a man allegedly attempted to molest a 21-year-old girl at a PG in Marathalli in the wee hours of Sunday, the police, after their initial refusal, filed an FIR on charges of attempt of molestation on Monday evening, almost two days after the incident.
According to a post on Facebook by the victim’s friend, around 2am on Sunday, a man armed with a knife entered the SSV PG for ladies at Marathalli through the terrace and tried to molest the girl. She ran and locked herself in the bathroom.
The post went on to say that the owner of the PG refused to share the CCTV footage and termed such incidents “normal.”
Police confirmed that the owner of the PG had filed an FIR at the HAL police station on Sunday on charges of theft of a mobile phone, without any mention of the molestation attempt. “Do not believe everything you read on social media,” an official said. Rajshekhar, the owner of the PG, said, “The attacker scared the girl and took away her phone.
I don’t know what the girl is claiming, I haven’t spoken to her as she left the PG right after the incident. I have given the police all the information and the CCTV footage.”
A friend said the victim had identified the culprit from photographs the police had shown her. The friend said police informed him that the accused was known to have molested two women earlier. The friend is a resident of Mumbai and has come to the city to help the victim. On Sunday night, the victim’s friend tried to lodge another FIR on charges of attempted molestation which the police did not file.
On Monday too, the friend said the police had refused to lodge another FIR on charges of molestation bid in spite of him spending two hours at the police station. He said, “Since they have refused, my lawyer and I will go and speak to the Police Commissioner.” However, the police confirmed, later in the evening, that they had filed the FIR on charges of attempt of molestation.