Surat: A 21-year-old man, who runs an auto garage, was booked by Chowk Bazaar police for sexually harassing a 16-year-old girl, who is his second cousin. The accused also allegedly threatened the girl’s family with dire consequences if they tried to get her engaged to someone else. Police arrested the accused after booking him for sexual harassment and criminal intimidation.According to the complaint, when the victim was 15 years old, her father found a mobile phone with her. She told him the accused had given it to her. The accused is the son of the victim’s father’s cousin. The girl and the accused met for the first time when he arrived to hand over the invitation card for his sister’s wedding. The girl told her father that the accused had taken her to various places and sexually harassed her. He had also allegedly made her sign an understanding that they would stay together.In Jan, the victim’s father called the man to his house and forbid him from talking to the victim. He told him to consider her his sister, as they are related. The accused, however, refused and started threatening the victim’s father. A month earlier, the accused sent a message to a family member of the victim. He allegedly threatened to have the victim’s engagement stopped. He also allegedly sent pictures of family members and said he knew the whereabouts of each of them and that he could do anything. After this, the victim’s father contacted Chowk Bazaar police, who booked the accused under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Sections 75(2) and 351(2), and Sections 8 and 12 of the Pocso Act, for sexual harassment and criminal intimidation.
