Such incidents do happen: Karnataka home minister on Bengaluru molestation charge

Mangalore Today News Network

Bengaluru,  Jan 02, 2017: Karnataka’s home minister appeared on Monday to brush aside reports that several women were allegedly molested in Bengaluru during New Year celebrations in the city while the police stood by.

“Such incidents do happen on New Year day and on Christmas. We take a lot of precautions,” state home minister G Parmeshwara was quoted as saying by ANI.

His comment came after a front-page report in the Bangalore Mirror alleged that unruly mobs started “pawing, molesting and passing lewd remarks” on women who had gathered for revelry on Bengaluru’s MG Road and Brigade Road.

The alleged molesters forced many women to take off their shoes and run for help to the nearest policeman, the report added.

However, Nagaraj, inspector at the Cubbon Park Police station, said no complaints had been made against such incidents.

“We had deployed 1600 police personnel in the area for new year’s celebrations and around 60,000 people had come there that night. But we had the situation under control,” he said.

“However if such incidents did take place that night we urge people to come forward and file complaints,” he added.

But the Bangalore Mirror report quoted people who said the police were badly outnumbered by the “drunk hooligans” and could only intervene intermittently. Despite several complaints, no cases were filed, the reports added.