Lockup TikTok-ers now harass teen in public

Ahmedabad: The mother of an 18-year-old girl from Meghaninagar lodged a complaint with the local police on Friday, stating that four men attempted to molest her daughter. The men have been identified as Manish Prajapati, Bharat Mali, Bhavik Mali, and Jaydeep Rajput. The woman said the incident occurred on Thursday, when two of the men grabbed her daughter’s hand and passed lewd comments.
The inspector of the Meghaninagar police station, D J Chudasama, said an offence has been registered under the Indian Penal Code’s Sections 354A for sexual harassment and 506(1) for harassing a woman.Moreover, Section 294(b) has been invoked for uttering obscene words. The accused have been arrested.
“All the four accused have criminal records and had been arrested earlier for assault,” Chudasama said. “Two of them, Bhavik and Bharat, had made a TikTok video from a police lockup in March. The video had gone viral.”
Chudasama said that according to the FIR, when the girl was headed home at about 3pm on Thursday, Manish and Bharat caught her hand in full public view and passed lewd comments.
The FIR mentioned that earlier on the same day, when the girl was going to her college to submit some papers, Bhavik and Jaydeep intercepted her and harassed her.
“According to the FIR, Bhavik told the girl that his group will kidnap her,” a police source said. “The girl told her mother about the harassment and threats. Later, the woman and her husband approached the four and reprimanded them.” However, the source said, the accused abused them and threatened to kill them.