Dindoshi park watchman held for molesting teenage girl in Malad

Accused Daniel Joseph Anna started working at Giri Pushpa Manpa Garden two years back

A Std XII girl felt thirsty while she was waiting for her friend at a civic-run garden in Malad East and approached the security guard there for some water, when he invited her in, offered her a water bottle and then touched her inappropriately, said Dindoshi police on Sunday.

Police said they arrested Daniel Joseph Anna soon after the girl's mother picked her up and filed a complaint on Saturday. Daniel, who lived at the garden, is also a gym trainer, they added.

The incident happened around 8.30 am on Saturday when the girl from Malad West was waiting for her friend, who was attending her classes in a nearby college, at the Giri Pushpa Manpa Garden in Govind Nagar. Around 10 am, she approached Daniel for some drinking water and he invited her inside the cabin and offered her a bottle.

The 17-year-old spilled water on her clothes and as she tried to dry it off, Daniel touched her private parts on the pretext of helping her, according to the police complaint. She ran out of the cabin, scared, after sensing his intentions, and called up her mother and narrated the incident, said a police officer.

Her mother rushed to the garden, picked up her daughter and went to Dindoshi police station. Sub Inspector Nilopher Shaikh registered the complaint after which the police went to the garden and hauled away Daniel. They have booked him under Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 8 (punishment for sexual assault) of the POCSO Act, said another officer. He added that they on Sunday produced Daniel in the Dindoshi sessions court which remanded him to police custody till March 9.

Daniel, who hails from Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, started working at the BMC's Giri Pushpa Manpa Garden two years back. Police said Daniel was also a gym trainer and helped those who used to come to the garden for exercising and offered house visits too. Police added that Daniel used to sleep in the cabin at nights.

17yrs
Age of the survivor

38yrs
Age of the accused

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