Police save man who threatened to kill himself over sexual harassment charges

A man in Mumbai threatened to die by suicide after circulating inappropriate pictures of a female friend. Police tracked him for 12 hours and arrested him.

MUMBAI: High drama ensued on Sunday evening when Sahar police got to know that a 21-year-old man accused of circulating inappropriate pictures of a female friend threatened her family that he would be dying by suicide. The police jumped into action, tracked his location for nearly 12 hours and managed to stop him from taking the extreme step. After counselling, he was arrested for the case registered by his friend.

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Police officials said that the accused and the complainant had been in a relationship over the past two years. However, she said she was sexually harassed by the man recently after which she decided to break the relationship off.

She then learnt that he had circulated inappropriate pictures of her amongst her family members and some of their common friends.

When she was at the police station registering a complaint of molestation against him on Sunday morning, she saw his Instagram post about his suicidal thoughts.

They booked the accused on charges of outraging the modesty of a woman, sexual harassment, defamation and criminal intimidation under Indian Penal Code and relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.

After the complaint was registered, the woman’s relatives received a message from the accused, who said he regretted his actions, and the only way for him to repent was to kill himself.

The police first called the accused, without revealing their identity, to ensure he was okay, they then started tracking his phone location.

He was seen moving on the tracks between CST and Diva for the next few hours. “This made us infer that he was travelling on a local train. We also looked for clues regarding his whereabouts through his social media profile. We were concerned that he might jump off a train.

“So, we started looking through his social media posts to try and understand his location. Later, the accused told us that he did think of jumping off a train three times during the several hours he was riding on the locals,” said the officer, adding he is glad that they could catch him alive.

The police lost track of him around 2.30 pm as he switched off his phone. They got in touch with the railway police to keep them informed of any accidents that may have taken place at the stations on the route of the accused. Then, they got in touch with some of his friends through whom they reached his home in Diva around 11.30 pm.

It was only after a 12-hour tracking of the accused, close to midnight on Sunday, that the police could finally nab the accused. In his statement to the police, the accused said he was upset about the breakup.

“In his frustration, the only thing that he thought would make him feel better about himself was to malign the image of the woman who rejected him,” said the officer.

The man was presented in court on Monday after which he was sent to judicial custody.