E-Paper
Actor ‘molested’: Suspect’s wife says he’s innocent, it’s a misunderstanding
The actor on Saturday night took to Instagram, alleging that a male co-passenger, who was sitting behind her on a Delhi-Mumbai flight, rubbed his foot on her back and neck.
The wife of a Mumbai-based businessman who was arrested late Sunday for allegedly molesting a teenage Bollywood actor said her husband had “no intention to molest” and the incident was the result of a “misunderstanding”.
“My husband is innocent, he had no intention to molest. There was a young death in family, which is where he went. He hadn’t slept for 24 hours. He asked the crew not to disturb him. His foot was on the arm rest but not with the intention to harass,” the woman is quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
On Sunday, the 17-year-old actor, a National Award winner, posted a social media video narrating how she was touched inappropriately during a Delhi-Mumbai Vistara flight the night before.
“There was no immediate reaction by her. I don’t know why she levelled these allegations, maybe there was a misunderstanding. He is a family man and can never do such a thing. We want justice,” the businessman’s wife told ANI.
The suspect, who is 39 years old, was identified with the help of the airline and description provided by the girl, whose name is being withheld due to legal protocols that protect the identity of victims in sexual crimes.
He will be produced in a magistrate court on Monday.
In her Instagram video, the actor shows a man sitting behind her repeatedly putting his feet on her back and neck.
“This is not the way, this is not (how) a girl should be made to feel because this is terrible. Is this how they are doing to take care of girls?” she said in the video made shortly after landing late Saturday.
According to the Sahar police, a FIR was lodged based on her oral complaint under section 354 (assault or criminal force on a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of Indian Penal code (IPC) and section 8 (sexual assault) of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act against the unknown passenger.