Man arrested for molesting cop, BJP MP slams police

GREATER NOIDA: A 23-year-old man was arrested for allegedly molesting a sub-inspector stationed for crowd control on the Yamuna Expressway when BJP president JP Nadda was on his way to Agra for a pro-CAA rally on Wednesday. Around 11.30am, the BJP president’s motorcade had just passed the stretch.
“Some people had parked their cars by the expressway and were standing around. In the hustle, one person from the crowd, Shoaib, molested our sub-inspector.She raised an alarm and got hold of him. The men who were with him started threatening us with consequences. When she started recording this on her mobile phone, he tried to snatch it away from her. That was when we detained him in the police van and asked others to disperse right away,” said Sujeet Upadhyay, the SHO of Sector Beta 2 police station.
The local BJP unit said he was a party supporter and dismissed the charges as the result of a “misunderstanding” that was “deliberately escalated” by the police. “Eyewitnesses said this happened when everyone was looking at the motorcade passing by. When it passed, Shoaib turned and tapped the woman on the hip, assuming she was a friend. However, he immediately apologised after that,” said Mahesh Sharma, president of the Greater Noida wing of BJP. “Police did not let us meet him after that despite many requests,” he added.
BJP district president Vijay Bhati said he had left the spot when this happened. But, he denied that Shoaib was a party supporter. “I came to know about the case where one Shoaib was involved. He is not our supporter. I am yet to see the videos you are talking about,” he said.
An FIR was registered under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 353 (assault or criminal force to deter public servant from discharge of duty), 332 (voluntarily causing hurt to deter public servant from duty), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) of the IPC. “The accused was sent to jail after being produced in court,”said the SHO.