Sexual assault at coaching centre: Eldest of three accused brothers held at airport
The victim had joined coaching centre in 2022 and has been sexually abused in several instances by the three brothers over 2 years
Mumbai: Police on Sunday arrested the eldest of three brothers, who have been accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in a coaching centre in south Mumbai for the past two years. The accused was arrested at the domestic airport when he returned from a holiday with his parents in Manali. The two younger brothers were arrested on Saturday.
The accused, 27, runs a coaching centre, along with his two younger brothers, aged 25 and 24, in south Mumbai, where up to 40 girls from Class 7 to Class 12 attend classes. The three brothers allegedly sexually assaulted the girl, a student at the coaching centre, for the past two years.
The FIR was registered based on a complaint by a counselling centre for children, where the victim confided to a counsellor in February this year about the crimes against her. Although she and her mother did not want to file a police complaint fearing social stigma, the counselling centres finally approached the police on Friday.
The victim had joined the coaching centre in 2022 after she moved to south Mumbai with her mother. Police have learnt that the elder brother allegedly raped the female student twice in the classroom, between July 2023 and December 2023. The second brother allegedly made her watch adult movies and molested her, while the youngest one had allegedly sexually abused her in class multiple times from 2022 to December 2023.
Her mother started noticing behavioural changes in December 2022 when she stopped speaking to people in her coaching class and even at school. She then convinced her daughter to go to the counselling centre. In February this year, the girl finally revealed to her counsellor about the sexual assault she was repeatedly subjected to at the hands of the three brothers at the counselling centre.
The counsellor then approached her mother and narrated the whole ordeal. However, fearing social stigma, her mother was not ready to file an FIR. Finally, officials from the child development centre approached NM Joshi Marg police station on Friday and a case was registered under relevant sections of rape, unnatural sex, molestation and criminal intimidation of the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO), 2012. The case was transferred to the LT Marg police station as the victim lives in the jurisdiction.
The accused will be produced in court on Monday, said a senior officer of the LT Marg police station.