30-year-old booked for sexually harassing minor in Noida

The accused, identified as Mohammad Shamim, a native of Madhubani in Bihar, who was residing in the same building in a rented room, sexually harassed the girl on the terrace

The Gautam Budh Nagar police booked a 30-year-old man for allegedly sexually harassing a 9-year-old girl, while she was sleeping on the terrace of her home in Noida’s Sector 113 on July 23, police said, adding that the accused is currently on the run and efforts are underway to arrest him.

On Friday, the victim’s parents lodged a complaint against the suspect at Sector 113 police station. (Representative Image)

On Friday, the victim’s parents lodged a complaint against the suspect at Sector 113 police station.

Jitendra Singh, SHO, Sector 113, said that according to the girl’s father, on July 22, he had gone to Khatu Shyam Mandir to pray with his friends, leaving his wife and three children, including the 9-year-old daughter, at their rented home where they had been residing for four years.

“During the intervening night of July 22 and 23, around 3 am, while the girl’s mother was sleeping on the terrace due to the summer heat, her younger child started crying. When she went to the kitchen to boil milk, the accused, identified as Mohammad Shamim, a native of Madhubani in Bihar, who was residing in the same building in a rented room, sexually harassed her daughter on the terrace. The girl woke up and tried to shout, but the accused covered her mouth,” SHO Singh said.

The SHO added that the girl managed to break free from the accused’s grasp and approached her mother to narrate the incident. “However, when the girl’s mother contacted the landlord the next morning to complain about Shamim, he had already left the rented room,” he said.

Subsequently, on July 24, when the girl’s father returned home, the family decided to approach the police station on Friday. “On the basis of father’s complaint, we have registered an FIR under the relevant sectionsof the Indian Penal Code,” the officer said.

SHO Singh said that Shamim worked as a daily wager in the city, and they traced his last location to Siliguri, West Bengal. “We are actively working to arrest him, and further investigation is underway in the case,” he said.