Bike taxi driver molests US woman in Lucknow, arrested - Hindustan Times
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Bike taxi driver molests US woman in Lucknow, arrested

ByHT Correspondent, Lucknow
Oct 16, 2019 11:00 PM IST

A 26-year-old woman from the United States (US) was molested by a bike taxi driver in the Hazratganj area of Lucknow on Wednesday, the police said.

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The US national was on her way to work when the incident occurred, the police said, adding that the accused had been arrested and investigation in the matter had been initiated.

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Confirming the incident, Hazratganj circle officer Abhay Mishra said, “The woman booked the bike taxi from Sikandar Bagh to New Hydrabad. The driver of the bike taxi, Vijay Kumar, 28, touched her inappropriately. The woman told her co-workers about the incident and they reported the matter to us.”

The woman told the police that she had been living in Lucknow for the past few months and worked with a social group. She usually booked a bike taxi to reach her place of work.

“The driver started talking sleaze with me. I asked him to stop, but he didn’t listen. He asked me to sit close to him on the bike and touched me,” the woman told police officials at the Hazratganj police station.

Based on her complaint, the police booked Vijay Kumar under sections 342 (wrongful confinement), 354 (criminal assault with intent to outrage modesty), 354A (sexual harassment), 354B (assault to woman with an intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (act intended to insult modesty of woman) of the Indian Penal Code.

A police team arrested Vijay from the Dalibagh area a few hours later, the police said. He told the police that his bike was registered with two bike aggregator service companies, the police said. A school dropout, he currently lives in Indiranagar, according to the police.

“Acting on the complaint of the woman, we began investigation and managed to track down the accused. He confessed to molesting the woman in the interrogation,” the circle officer said.

Quoting the woman’s complaint, a police officer said, “The driver asked her to befriend him, but she refused. He later said that he liked her and had fallen in love with her. When she resented, the driver changed the route and kept harassing her. At one point, the woman even threatened to jump off his bike if he continued with sleazy talk. She asked him to drop her at the specified location.”

“The accused did not relent but continued with his obscene talk, physical harassment and even offered sexual favours,” said the police officer. However, he finally dropped her at the location, the officer added.

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