Zeenews Bureau
Mumbai, Jan 09: The Juhu molestation case accused on Wednesday said that they were innocent. Addressing the media, the accused who are out on bail, said that they were merely onlookers who were pushed by a crowd on the New Year’s Eve, and the photographers clicked the wrong persons.
The men, in a belligerent outburst, accused the media of jumping too fast to their own conclusions. One of them said that he was not even there at the spot when the incident occurred.
“We were returning from dinner and saw a crowd of 150 surrounding two couples. We became curious and got thrown into the scene. The photographers just clicked our pictures and the police took us for interrogation,” the accused said.
The men didn’t stop at that clarification. They said that while the newspapers splashed ‘molestation’ pictures, they did not write a word about how the girls in question were drunk.
“The couples were in an inebriated state. They were smooching on the road. What were they expecting?”, they said.
The accused were identified at Mumbai’s Arthur Road Jail by two photographers of a leading English daily and traffic inspector Amarjit Singh who were witness to the incident, which took place in the early hours of New Year’s Day.
The accused face charges of outraging modesty of women and unlawful assembly and face jail of up to one year. However, all the witnesses will have to identify the accused in the court, when the case comes up for hearing.
However, even after being identified as the accused behind the molestation, all the 14 men walked free as after being granted bail by a Mumbai court.
The 14 men were arrested by Mumbai Police on January 3 on suspicion of being involved in the molestation of two NRI women outside a five star hotel early on January 1.
Meanwhile, two prime accused in the case are still absconding.
The arrests followed after two of the accused – Ravi Shukla and Nilesh – surrendered at the Juhu Police Station.
On December 31, as the two women walked out of JW Marriott hotel at 1:45 am with two male friends, a mob of about 70 men started teasing them.
When one of the women swore loudly at the hooligans, the mob pounced on them and the two women were molested by the mob.
National outrage followed the incident, but the police lodged an FIR only after massive public pressure. The victims had left the city without lodging any complaint. The Police Commissioner went on to say that the media were ‘making a mountain out of a molehill.’
Police file appeal for cancellation of bail
Police on Wednesday moved a sessions court here for cancellation of the bail granted by a lower court to 14 accused in the New Year molestation case in Juhu.
Public Prosecutor Ramnath Kiny sought opportunity for the police to investigate the matter further. He argued before principal sessions judge Ashok Bhangale that police did not get the custody of the accused earlier.
First Published: Wednesday, January 09, 2008, 00:00