Girl foils her kidnapping bid; attacks driver with geometry compass, jumps out of moving rickshaw

Thane: A 16-year-old girl showed presence of mind and foiled her alleged kidnapping attempt by an autorickshaw driver by attacking him with a geometry compass while she was on her way to school in his vehicle at Bhiwandi in Maharashtra's Thane district, police said.

The incident occurred on July 9 around 12 noon, they said on Saturday.

A case in this connection has been registered at the Shanti Nagar police station in Bhiwandi.

"The girl had boarded the rickshaw to go to her school on Wednesday. An unidentified man was already present in it. When the vehicle reached close to her school, the girl asked the driver to stop there, but he did not do so and instead moved faster," an official said.

Although the teenager was shocked by what was happening, she showed presence of mind and pulled out a geometry compass from her school bag and attacked the driver with it. She also pushed away the man sitting beside her before jumping out of the moving rickshaw. She managed to reach her school after that, he said.

The girl later narrated the incident to her mother, following which they approached the police and lodged a complaint against the rickshaw driver and his accomplice.

Based on her complaint, the case was filed under sections 137(2) (kidnapping) and 62 (attempt to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), the police said.

"A probe into the case is currently underway," the official said.