Bengaluru: Acting swiftly, police have arrested six people for allegedly stalking and harassing five women in a car in the heart of the south Indian city of Bengaluru two days after the incident was caught on camera.
The incident happened on Saturday around 11.30pm when the women on a weekend outing stopped their car near an ice cream parlour on MG Road and found unidentified men trying to open the doors of the vehicle. The women’s screams went unnoticed for some time.
Three of the arrested were residents of the city and the other three from Hosur in Tamil Nadu, Bengaluru Police Commissioner M.N. Reddi told reporters.
“It is learnt that these individuals had come to MG Road casually, but they indulged in stalking of these women, going closer to the car and even attempting to force open the door that resulted in panic and fear in the minds of the women,” he added.
“We are yet to look into criminal background of these individuals, but they have confessed to what they have done,” he said.
Reddi said the accused had been identified based on the available evidence provided by the complainant “as well as the case as a whole and they have confessed. Police have got conclusive evidence.”
A case was registered under Sec 354D (stalking) and 506 (criminal intimidation) of Indian Penal Code based on a complaint by one of the women, he said.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police (Bangalore Central) and his team were tasked to investigate the case.
“I’m extremely happy that within 48 hours of the registration of the case, our team has detected the case arrested the accused persons; they have been interrogated,” he said.
In their complaint, the women had said that as they were seated inside the car waiting for their driver who had gone to pick up ice cream for them, the men stared at them, stood around the vehicle and tried to open the doors. As they raised an alarm by screaming for help and honking, the men fled the scene.
