Coimbatore City Police have arrested an auto-rickshaw driver S. Mohammed Sadiq (43) on charges of sexually harassing a woman passenger. The woman suffered minor injuries after she jumped from the moving vehicle.
According to police, Sadiq, a resident of Arul Nagar in Ukkadam, was arrested by the police based on a complaint lodged by a woman hailing from Erode district. The woman works in the city and lives in an apartment near Selvapuram and employed in a private firm. She travelled to Tirupur on 28th August and returned to Coimbatore around 12.30 a.m. on next day. She got down at Hope College and booked an auto-rickshaw using an app. As per the complaint lodged by the woman, the accused picked her in his autorickshaw. As the vehicle was nearing Fun Mall, the driver tried to touch her inappropriately and spoke to her in an obscene manner. Unable to bear this, she shouted in high pitch stop this and when he failed, she jumped out of the vehicle in the vicinity of a police station as the accused refused to stop the vehicle. She got injured on her head. The auto driver sped away from the scene.
Her friends reached the spot after she informed them. They took the woman to a private hospital where first-aid was given to for injuries on head, hand and leg. She got admitted to another hospital later. Sadiq was arrested for offences under Sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 354 (A) (sexual harassment) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 4 (penalty for harassment of women) of the Tamil Nadu Prohibition of Harassment of Women act .
After Nirbhaya incident, a lot measures have been taken to protect women from sexual assaults. But in Tamil Nadu, under the Dravidian model of governance, such incidents, particularly crime against women has gone up manifold.
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