Molestation case: HC refuses interim protection from arrest to DIG

MUMBAI: The Bombay high court (HC) on Friday refused to grant interim protection from arrest to deputy inspector general (DIG) of police (motor transport) Nishikant More, who is accused of molesting a 17-year-old girl at her birthday party in June 2019 in Navi Mumbai.

Justice PD Naik has now posted More’s anticipatory bail application for hearing on Tuesday and directed the police to produce the video clip in which More can allegedly be seen wiping cake off the minor’s face and licking it, and touching her inappropriately. Taloja police had booked More on December 26, six months after the alleged incident on June 5, 2019. The officer, who has been suspended, approached the HC after the Panvel sessions court rejected his anticipatory bail application on January 9.

Senior advocate Ashok Mundargi, appearing for More, pointed out that the families of the minor and the officer knew each other for a long time, and that he attended her birthday party with his wife and children. Mundargi said the complaint was lodged six months after the alleged incident, following a property dispute between the two families. He said the FIR was a fallout of the dispute. Mundargi told the HC that the Panvel court rejected More’s pre-arrest bail plea primarily in view of the fact that the girl had gone missing, leaving behind a suicide note naming More in it, and that the sessions judge had apprehended that the note may turn out to be a dying declaration. Mundargi said the girl was traced to Dehradun with her boyfriend, and requested the court to restrain the police from taking any coercive steps against More.