Three held for groping, molesting girls on Bhubaneswar road

BHUBANESWAR: As Friday’s daylight molestation and assault on three college girls on busy Nandankanan road here endangered safety of women, the police on Sunday said they arrested three persons in connection with the shameful incident.

“Within 36 hours of the incident, we arrested three persons of a group, who stalked the three girls and their male friend and passed dirty gestures at them. Other men involved in the case will soon be arrested,” commissioner of police Y B Khurania said after the virtual rerun of Bangalore incident in Bhubaneswar triggered massive public outcry and drew flak for the smartest city’s police.

The accused trio were identified as Madhab Kumar Rout, 22, Mrutyunjay Patra, 22 and Biswaranjan Pradhan, 21. While Rout and Patra belonged to Raghunathpur area here, Pradhan is a resident of Nandankanan area. At least seven of their accomplices are still at large, police said.

The incident occurred around 3.10 pm between Magnet Square and Raghunathpur when the girls were returning from Nandankanan zoo. The unruly accused allegedly stalked them and passed lewd comments at them. When the girls protested, the youths attacked them. The tormenters would have remained unidentified had the girls not shot a video, showing their faces and bike. While two of the accused own mobile repair shops, the third one works in the Nabdankanan zoo.

“We are happy that the police arrested three of them. But there is threat to our lives. The boys had openly threatened us of dire consequences when we were shooting their hooliganism,” said one of the girls.

The girls demanded suspension of some Nandankanan cops for their alleged negligence. “All the boys would have been arrested on the spot had the police responded swiftly. The PCR (police control room) van reached the spot nearly 40 minutes after we called 100. The distance between Nandankanan police station and incident spot was barely 4 km. After reaching the spot, the cops gave the plea that their vehicle ran short of fuel. We were shocked at their response,” another girl said. The girls alleged none from the bystanders came to their rescue. Police denied the charges of negligence. “We received the call around 3.26 pm. The PCR van reached the spot at 3.40 pm,” another police officer said.

The capital city had witnessed such a brazen atrocity on a girl on September 10, 2016 when a group of tipsy men kidnapped her and molested her in a moving car in Khandagiri. Police had arrested three men.