Rampur horror: 14 men molest 2 women

After the Bulandshahr incident, everyone should try to keep women of the family indoors. Girls should not go to places where there is a brazen dance of shamelessness.

A group of 14 men harassed and molested two women in Uttar Pradesh’s Tanda district, a video of which one of them shot and posted online.

Police arrested one of the accused, Shahnawaz Qadri from Kuwan Kheda village of Tanda, where the incident happened, while four search teams are hunting for the others. The police are also trying to locate the two women.

“They might help us in correct identification of the accused,” said Rampur superintendent of police(SP), Nitin Tada, adding that a female officer headed that team.

An FIR has been registered under sections 354A (sexual harassment), 354B (assault or use of force to woman with intent to disrobe) and relevant sections of Information Technology Act against the 14 men.

The three-minute-long video shows the men surrounding the two women and pushing and groping them by the side of a road near a Poplar plantation.

The men are seen pulling one of the women and picking her up, as the other woman tries to save her, saying, “Tumahre ghar main behen nahi hai kya (Don’t you have sisters)?”

The date and time of the incident is not clear, but the police have taken notice of it and identified the location and culprits.

After coming to power in March this year, the Yogi Adityanath-led UP government launched ‘anti-Romeo’ squads to curb harassment and ensure the safety of women in the state, but it ran into trouble for moral policing and excesses. The government then renamed the force Nari Suraksha Bal (Women’s Protection Force) and issued guidelines for them.

Meanwhile, former urban development minister Azam Khan, who is also the local legislator, drew outrage after he suggested that to avoid such crimes against them, women should sit at home and remain protected.

He also targeted the media and chief minister Yogi Adityanath by saying that “criminals were getting emboldened”.

“After the Bulandshahr incident, everyone should try to keep women of the family indoors. Girls should not go to places where there is a brazen dance of shamelessness,” said Azam Khan while referring to the July 2016 gang rape of a minor and her mother in Bulandshahr.

Khan has a penchant for making controversial statements.

He was made to apologise by the Supreme Court for calling the Bulandshahr case a “political conspiracy”.