US national remanded in India for ‘molesting’ minor boy
An Indian court yesterday remanded an American citizen in custody for 14 days over allegations he molested a teenaged boy in his hotel room, police said. The 51-year-old US national was produced before a sessions court in Kolkata, capital of West Bengal state, where a case was initiated against him under India’s stringent Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. “He was produced before a sessions court today (Saturday). He has been remanded to judicial custody for 14 days,” Debashis Dhar, an additional police deputy commissioner, told AFP.
Chief public prosecutor Manjit Singh confirmed the remand to AFP over phone. Officials at the US consulate were not immediately available for comment. The accused, who had come to India on a tourist visa, was arrested on Friday after hotel authorities lodged a complaint. Investigators said the man had befriended the boy, 14, on Facebook before coming to Kolkata. “(In Kolkata) he met the boy near the hotel, took him to a shopping mall to gift him football boots and a sports bag and then asked him to accompany to his hotel room,” Dhar said. Hotel security manager Joydip Palit said the boy had alleged that the man forced him to perform a sexual act in the hotel room and was handed a 100-rupee ($1.5) note when he protested. —AFP