An American journalist of Indian origin claims she was stalked, harassed and molested by a neighbour in Ghaziabad, Uttar Pradesh. The 38-year-old woman had come to India in January to cover the Lok Sabha elections, which is set to take place in seven phases in the next two months.
The accused, 31-year-old Nishanth, allegedly followed the woman for almost an hour in his Maruti Swift DZire car and was passing crude comments at her which made her uncomfortable. This happened near Shipra Suncity in Indirapuram. The Times of India reports that he was arrested after the woman filed a complaint.
According to the complaint, the woman was walking towards a grocery shop when Nishanth began following her. She got into a cycle rickshaw when the accused continued to follow her in his car. He even went to the extent of trying to block the rickshaw's way with his car.
When the woman confronted him, he tried to touch her inappropriately. Terrified, she ran to the guard's room at the entrance of her apartment complex and called her sister for help. Her sister told TOI, "I rushed to the gate and called the police control room. The accused was drunk and misbehaved with us when we tried to resist. He tried to flee, but the guards caught hold of him and handed him over to police."
Based on the woman's complaint, an FIR under sections 354-D (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC was registered at Indirapuram police station. "The accused has been arrested and sent to jail. His car has also been seized," Sandeep Singh, the station house officer of Indirapuram police, told TOI.
The woman and her sister were so shaken by the incident that they decided to return to the US. Her sister is also a journalist.
