16-year-old girl escapes kidnap by jumping from moving auto

A 16-year-old girl escaped an alleged molestation and kidnapping by jumping from a moving auto rickshaw in Mumbai; police are searching for the driver.

MUMBAI: A 16-year-old girl who was allegedly molested and being kidnapped by an auto rickshaw driver, escaped by jumping out of a moving auto on Saturday. The rickshaw driver fled but he was identified by the police using CCTV footage in the area, and his vehicle was seized. The police have registered a case against him and are looking for him.

16-year-old girl escapes kidnap by jumping from moving auto

According to the police, the girl and her mother left their home at Vasai on Saturday to shop for Christmas. At 6pm, the two parted ways as the mother had some chores to complete. She asked the girl to go home on her own. The teenager left Vasai railway station, from where her house was 20 minutes away. She hailed an auto rickshaw and requested the driver to go by the main road. After 6.10pm he allegedly took a wrong turn and went into a back road. She raised objections but he said he was heading to a nearby garage as there was a problem with his vehicle. He stopped the vehicle midway and pretended to check something in his auto. Then he went to the backseat and began touching her inappropriately. When she screamed, he silenced her by threatening to rape and kill her.

“The driver told her to sit quietly and started the auto. He drove this time into a dark alley. As he sped, the girl jumped out of the auto,” said an officer from the Manikpur police station. Passersby noticed her fall and soon a crowd gathered around her. Seeing this, the driver fled. She used the phone of a person in the crowd to call and narrate the incident to her mother.

The girl and her mother then went to Manikpur station in Vasai to file a complaint. “With the help of CCTV footage, we have identified the auto driver as Prakash Vartak, a 29-year-old man. We seized his vehicle from his house. We are now on the lookout for him,” said Jagdish Walvi, senior police inspector of the Manikpur police station.