The man who was allegedly masturbating while looking at a woman in a Mumbai local, was detained on July 13, weeks after the woman recorded him in the act and shared it on social media. The accused has been identified as Ashok Pradhan (20). He hails from Odisha and resides in Chembur.
“The crime occurred at CST on 29 June at 5.45 am and the arrest has been made today. A complaint was registered under Sections 354 and 509 IPC at CST police station. We traced the accused within six hours by checking CCTV footage of the platform. The constable who the girl spoke to didn’t take the incident up with his superiors for which the department is initiating action against him,” said ACP Machindra Chavan, CST division, Mumbai Railways.
The complainant Isha Chitnis told The Quint that the police took action only after she wrote about the incident and got the notice of media outlets. A police source told The Quint that the accused was caught based on Isha’s statement, CCTV footage and the video.
The incident happened when Isha Chitnis reached the CST station at 5:45 am for a 6:15 am train on June 29. The woman saw a guy masturbating inside the train. She soon started recording and also approached the nearest cop. But he did not take any action.
After she posted a video of the incident, people suggested her, ‘to let it go,’ as ‘he did not do anything.’
