All 15 accused arrested in MP sexual harassment case

All the 15 men who had allegedly sexually harassed women in full public view in Alirajpur district of Madhya Pradesh have been arrested, police said on Monday.

These 15 men were seen misbehaving with women in the video of the incident which has gone viral, Alirajpur Superintendent of Police Manoj Singh told PTI.

While three men were arrested by Sunday noon, the rest others were picked up on Sunday night, he added.

"The arrested accused are tribals in the age group of 18 to 32 years," the SP said. Police had detained two persons for filming the harassment incident and circulating the video on social media platforms.

"We are going to make them witnesses in this case. Had this video not been shot and made viral, we wouldn't have come to know about this incident," the SP said.

In the video clip, a group of men are seen pushing and hugging two women walking on a crowded street and trying to kiss them forcibly amid shouting by other men.

Singh said the accused have been booked under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with an intent to outrage her modesty) and 354-A (sexual harassment) and 34 (criminal acts done by several persons with common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

“No woman has lodged a complaint with us. We took the action based on the video that has gone viral,” he added.

The incident occurred three days back in the Wallpur area of the tribal-dominated Alirajpur district, around 392 km away from Bhopal.

Some locals from Alirajpur had said this video was shot on Friday.

A group of men was visiting Wallpur to participate in 'Bhagoriya', a tribal festival, some 30 km from the Alirajpur district headquarters when the incident occurred.

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