Woman walking for water groped in the middle of road

A homemaker who stepped out to get water was allegedly groped by a man known to her in eastern Bengaluru, police said.

The 21-year-old woman was walking to a BBMP water filter near her house in Nellurapuram 1st Cross around 7.30 pm on Wednesday when a man named Mahesh appeared in the opposite direction and blocked her way. Mahesh, who’s in the 20s and lives in Nellurapuram 13th Cross, had known the woman for a long time and often misbehaved with her, according to the police.

Before she could make sense of the situation, Mahesh allegedly put his hands on her leggings and groped her. She raised an alarm, forcing him to flee. She didn’t stop at that and ran after him but he managed to escape.

The woman later filed a complaint with HAL police. She is married but lives with her husband in her mother’s home. Police quoted her mother as saying that Mahesh is a drug addict and an alcoholic with a history of misbehaving with women. “This was not the first time that he misbehaved with her. He had been doing this for the last few months. He would come home when my daughter would be alone and misbehave with her. We warned him but he didn’t pay heed,” her mother told the police.

Mahesh has been booked for sexual harassment.