On September 16, while visiting Sai Upvan city forest in Ghaziabad, a 22-year-old woman from Noida and her 23-year-old fiancé reportedly endured hours of alleged sexual harassment and extortion by three police officers.
The woman complained that the cops continued harassing her by way of phone calls and even visited her house after the incident.
The woman called the police for help after the incident. The Ghaziabad police said the call went to Delhi police first, and they then passed the complaint to Ghaziabad police.
The woman from Noida and her fiancé, who came to visit her from Bulandshahr, went for a trip to Sai Upvan city forest on 16 September. They were sitting together at Sai Upvan, which is near the Hindon River metro station and alongside GT Road.
Three suspects were identified as constable Rakesh Kumar, Digambar Kumar – a home guard, and, one other unidentified man who allegedly held the couple captive and harassed them for about three hours, reported Hindustan Times.
“It was around 12 noon when three men arrived on a PRV and started threatening us. They slapped my fiance and one of them demanded ₹10,000 for letting us go. We requested them with folded hands and even touched their feet but they did not budge. Later, Rakesh Kumar behaved badly and started forcing me to get physical with him. The third man also demanded ₹5.5 lakhs… We were held there for three hours during which the suspects repeatedly touched me inappropriately…,” the woman said in the FIR.
The harassment persisted even after the couple was compelled to transfer ₹1000 to the suspects via the woman’s online wallet as a means to cease it.
On 28 September, three were booked under IPC sections 354a (1)(ii) for physical contact and advances involving explicit sexual overtures and demand for sexual favours, 323 for voluntarily causing hurt, 504 for intentional insult and 342 for wrongful confinement besides levying the provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act at Kotwali police station.
