Mumbai: Pregnant woman, friend chase, drag molester to police

Accused Hiraman Hindurao Zingale

While travelling home from work one evening, a four-months pregnant woman and her friend took it upon themselves to catch a serial molester they had previously been harassed by at Dadar railway station.

Around 7.26 pm on Monday, while waiting at the station with Preeti (the pregnant woman) for a train, 40-year-old Shefali caught Hiraman Hindurao Zingale staring at her. She immediately recognised him from another incident that took place a few days back.

"My friend and I were waiting when I noticed Zingale was constantly staring at me. Taking advantage of the rush on the platform, he came closer and started touching us. Meanwhile, the train arrived and I saw him boarding the compartment reserved for differently-abled people," Shefali, a Vitthalwadi resident, told mid-day.

"This was not his first offence. He had committed the same act with me around eight to 10 days back too. I had ignored then thinking it was a mistake because the platform was too crowded. But this time around, we decided to teach him a lesson," she added.

With the resolve to Zingale arrested, Shefali and Preeti also entered the reserved compartment and the latter informed her husband and asked him to wait for them at the Dombivli station. "We decided to quietly chase him till Dombivli station. However, he again came near us and started improperly touching Preeti when I yelled at him, 'why aren't you standing properly?'," said Shefali.

As soon as the train halted at Dombivli station, Shefali caught hold of Zingale and dragged him by his collar to the Government Railway Police.

The Dombivli GRP immediately detained 25-year-old Zingale and later handed him over to its counterpart at Dadar where the alleged molestation started. The Dadar GRP arrested him and booked Zingale, who hails from Ahmadnagar, under Section 354 (outraging woman's modesty) of the Indian Penal Code.

Security guard molests woman, slaps her for protesting

A 29-year-old security guard allegedly molested a 25-year-old woman and slapped her when she protested against his advances. The incident occurred in broad daylight on a foot overbridge at Thane when the woman was on her way to office on Wednesday.

"Around 11.30 am I took the FOB to go to platform number 6 when Sunil Malusare, who was coming from the opposite direction, purposely hit on her chest. When I reacted and asked him to walk properly, he slapped me and started shouting at me," the victim said in her statement to the police.

With the help of others at the spot, she took him to the GRP officials, who arrested him. The police have booked Malusare under Sections 354A (outraging woman's modesty), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation) of the IPC.

'name changed to protect victims' idenitity

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