Kolkata: Four youths in SUV molest 2 girls, try to kidnap one, held

KOLKATA: Three teenagers and a 25-year-old youth were arrested for allegedly harassing two girls and attempting to push one of them inside their vehicle. The incident took place near one of the girls’ home at Sikharpur on the road to Vedic Village in Rajarhat on Sunday.

Police said the two Class VIII girls were cycling home after photocopying school notes when the four accused blocked their way with their SUV and began teasing them. Not too many people were on the stretch. When one of the girls protested, the men allegedly alighted from the car and tried to bundle her into the vehicle. Even as the girls screamed out, farmers in a nearby field ran to their rescue. The youths reportedly drove away but the girl noted down the white vehicle’s registration number. The next day, she submitted it to police, when she lodged a complaint.

The Rajarhat police arrested the four—Arup Mondal (25),

Saifuddin Molla

(18),

Salauddin Molla

(18) and

Masudur Islam

(18)—on Monday. Mondal lives in

Haroa

in North 24 Parganas and the three others in Kashipur in South 24 Parganas. They have been booked under POCSO Act and IPC sections dealing with kidnap and molestation. A Barasat court sent them to police custody on Tuesday.

Police said the vehicle was registered in Mondal’s mother’s name. “Mondal and his friends were driving around the road that connects Bagu and Bajetaraf village when they spotted the two girls,” said a Bidhannagar Commissionerate officer.