Three booked for molesting bar dancer at gunpoint

11/2/2019

PUNE: The Pune rural police have booked three men for allegedly molesting one of four women bar dancers from Panvel at gunpoint and threatening them with dire consequences at a farmhouse in Vadgaon Maval, about 38 km from here on the Pune-Lonavla road.

The women had come to a pub at Koregaon Park here and were returning to Panvel when one of their associates invited them to the farmhouse. Following the molestation, the women managed to escape from the farmhouse but the suspects chased them in a car.

The women sought the help of two men but the suspects threatened them too with the firearm. The women finally sought refuge in a village temple and some villagers alerted the police. The Vadgaon Maval police said the three men have been booked for molestation and under relevant provisions of the Indian Arms Act. A search has been launched to arrest them.

Police said the four women, who are in their early 20s, are employed as dancers in a bar at Panvel. After breaking off from work late night, they visited the pub at Koregaon Park and later went to a friend’s flat in the city. The women were about to set off for Panvel late morning when one of them got a call from her friend, inviting them for a small programme and dinner at a farmhouse in Vadgaon Maval, the police said. The women went to the farmhouse where a party was going on.

Police said one of the guests at the party offered liquor to one of the women. In her statement to the police, the woman said that soon after she consumed the liquor, the man molested her. When she resisted his moves, he threatened her with dire consequences, pulled out a pistol and tried to rape her, she told the police.

Panicked by the incident, the women fled from the farmhouse on foot and reached a nearby road where they sought help from two men. However, at the same time, the three suspects reached the spot in a car and threatened the two men if they helped the women, the police said.

The women ran into the nearby bushes and managed to reach the village temple. A few villagers present in the temple heard their story and contacted the Vadgaon Maval police. The women registered an FIR with the police and were allowed to return to Panvel, the police said.