Girl molested, male friend slapped in road rage case

A 20-year-old student was molested and her male friend roughed up after a fracas over traffic rules in Chikkajala on Sunday.

The incident took place on Airport Road near A2B restaurant at Vidyanagar Cross. When tempers ran high, the victim said, she had told a man violating traffic rules to speak in Hindi or English, and he in turn told her to learn Kannada.

On Monday, police arrested four men in connection with the incident: Manjunath and Krishna, both lorry drivers, Ravi, salesman in a private company, and Praveen, employee in a photocopy shop. All are residents of Sonnappanahalli.

The girl and her friend Santosh (name changed) were returning on a two-wheeler after dinner at a restaurant when they noticed a scooter approaching them head-on.

The vehicles stopped face to face. Manjunath, on the scooter, had no headlights and was riding in the wrong direction, according to the complaint.

When the girl questioned him, he said it was a service road on which two-way traffic was allowed. The girl and Santosh then asked Manjunath about the headlight. This triggered a heated argument.

Manjunath snatched the key of their bike. When the girl and Santosh asked Manjunath to speak in English or Hindi, Manjunath abused them in foul language and slapped Santosh, police said. The complaint said the victim rushed to Santosh’s help, but was overpowered by a crowd which had gathered by then.

Some men pushed her and touched her inappropriately, she told the police. She started crying and pleaded to be allowed to go, but they continued to molest her, the complaint said.

Some in the crowd said it was better for the two to go back to where they came from, she told the police. Santosh snatched the key back and the two escaped, but were chased for a distance by a few men. After they reached a safe place, she called up her mother, who informed the police control room.“The mother was unable to give us the location as she did not know where they were. The girl then reached home, went to the Chikkajala police station and lodged a complaint,” said a senior police officer.

Phone picture helped police
Police visited the spot in Chikkajala on the northern outskirts of Bengaluru, and began investigation. “We had a photograph of Manjunath clicked by the victim on her phone,” a police officer said. “It helped us make the arrests.”

Police are collecting CCTV footage from buildings in the vicinity to see if others were involved. The girl and her friend are shaken badly, but not injured, police said.