Mumbai: Molestation is a serious crime
and it should be made non-bailable instead of bailable
offence, the Bombay High Court said on Friday.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Mohit Shah made this
observation while hearing a PIL based on a newspaper report
which alleged that Railway Police Force (RPF) had refused to
register the complaint of a 25-year-old woman who was molested
in a local train in the wee hours of June 19.
The report that appeared in a leading newspaper had
been converted suo motu into a PIL by the high court which
asked the government and Railways to file their replies.
The report said that the victim boarded a train early
morning at Nerul station in adjoining Navi Mumbai and was
allegedly molested by an unidentified person in the
compartment.
The woman managed to get down at the next station,
Juinagar, and reported the matter to RPF personnel who asked
her whether she had been robbed or raped, to which she replied
in the negative. They then asked her as why she wanted to
lodge a complaint, the newspaper report said.
Finally, she went to Vashi police station which
registered a complaint against the unidentified accused on the
basis of her statement. The victim has been called to identify
the accused from the CCTV footage, it said.
PTI
First Published: Friday, June 24, 2011, 22:59