The main accused has been arrested and the police are looking for others.
Highlights
- It's unclear when the video was shot, but it was recently circulated
- The women can be heard wailing and screaming in the video.
- The main accused has been arrested and the police are hunting for others
In shocking footage that has emerged from western Uttar Pradesh's Rampur district, about 318 km from Lucknow, a group of 14 men molested and groped two women near a village under the Tanda police station, filmed the whole incident on their mobile phones and posted the video on social media.
It is not clear when this video was shot, but the clips reportedly were circulated over the last fortnight. The police have filed a case of molestation. Of the 14 accused, two have been arrested this morning, the main accused was taken into custody yesterday. The police say they are looking for more people involved in the incident.
The police hasn't been able to identity the victims, but in the footage, the men can be seen blocking their way on a narrow road. The men are on their motorbikes and there are trees all around. The men are seen groping, pushing, pulling and abusing them. The women's wails and screams can be heard in the video. They are pleading with their molesters to let them go to no avail.
"We have identified the men involved. The main accused has been arrested. We are interrogating him and based on what he says the rest will also be nabbed. We filed an FIR after the videos went viral on social media," Vipin Tada, Superintendent of Police, Rampur, said.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath's BJP government that came to power after a thumping majority in the assembly polls in March has been severely criticised for a jump in criminal activities in the state. The opposition continues to attack the chief minister for the deteriorating law and order situation.
As he expressed his dissatisfaction over the state of affairs in UP and a spike in the number of incidents which he called "unfortunate", Yogi Adityanath, however, said that the new government needs time to exert control because it has inherited a law and order system that is in a shambles.
Among the first initiatives taken by the Adityanath government was the setting up of anti-Romeo squads to prevent harassment of women at public places. The squads were promised by the BJP while it was campaigning in UP for polls that it won by a colossal margin.
But so far they have been in news for all the wrong reasons. The initial television visuals suggested that cops publicly shamed couples and young men in the name of protecting women from harassment. UP Director General of Police Sulkhan Singh then issued dos and don'ts amid allegations of the anti-Romeo squads indulging in moral policing.