An American woman has accused a man of masturbating at her in south Mumbai in broad daylight on Monday morning, leading the police to launch a hunt for him and her to take to Twitter to nab him
In an incident that could further damage Mumbai's reputation for being unsafe for women, an American national tweeted the photo of a youth who allegedly masturbated at her in broad daylight in south Mumbai.
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The incident occurred on Monday morning at around 8.59 am near Colaba Causeway. The woman managed to click the man’s picture before he fled the spot after she confronted him. She later tweeted the photo.
An American woman's accusation and tweet, which went viral on Monday morning, led the police to launch a hunt for him.
The police are yet to decide which IPC Section is to be invoked in the matter.
According to the woman, the man allegedly masturbated in front of her and ran away from the spot when she confronted him. The foreign national approached the police and narrated the harrowing incident.
Copspeak
Speaking to mid-day, Senior Inspector Vinay Gadgil from Colaba police station said the woman did not visit the police station after the incident. But when they discovered about the incident, cops contacted her. He added that the woman told the police that she would meet them on Tuesday, following which an FIR could be filed based on her complaint.
“I heard a woman shouting, so I came out of my car. She was with the accused when she sought directions for the police station. I showed here where the police station was located,” said an eyewitness.
"Based on a verbal complaint by the victim, the police have initiated a search for the accused. However, we are yet to record the statement of the complainant to know what exactly happened. We will get a clear picture only when we record her statement," said Vinay Gadgil, Senior Inspector of Colaba Police Station.
"As the victim's statement has not been recorded yet, I will not be able to say that under which (IPC) Section the accused would be booked," added Gadgil.
The incident came to public notice when the American woman tweeted about it, and her tweet soon went viral on social networking sites like Tweeter and Facebook.
The victim also mentioned two men, who where passing-by and came to her help when she raised an alarm. She also tweeted the image again, this time to clarify the fact that the man approaching the camera was the accused and the other two were the Good Samaritans.
To get clues about the identity of the accused, police are going through a photo which the victim had managed to click, said Gadgil.
(With PTI Inputs)