Mumbai police nab two for hounding South Korean girl

Mumbai, Dec 1 (IANS) The Mumbai Police on Thursday arrested two youth for harassing and attempting to molest a South Korean national in the suburban Khar area, officials said here.

The incident occurred just before midnight on Tuesday -- four days after two men had stalk-chased two minor schoolgirls in Andheri West on Saturday -- came to light after a video showing the foreig national being pursued and pestered went viral on Wednesday.

Senior Inspector posted at Khar police station, Mohan Mane, said that they contacted the girl, but she was not in a position to give a statement after which the police lodged a suo moto complaint and the Nirbhaya Squad swung into action.

"We have arrested two persons -- Mobeen Chand M. Shaikh (19) and M. Naquib Sadrealam Ansari (21) -- and booked them under the relevant sections of IPC," Deputy Commissioner of Police, Anil Paraskar, said in a statement on Thursday.

Later, the victim also tweeted how a person was harassing here even she tried her best not to escalate the situation and leave the area as he was with one of his friends.

She said some people found her too friendly and got engaged in conversation, making her think twice about streaming. She later provided her contact details to the police to help them.

At the time of the incident, the South Korean girl was shooting a video on a selfie stick. The two youth accosted her, asking her details, before one of them grabbed her hand, tried to drag her to his two-wheeler even as she kept resisting.

In the video, the two youth seemed insistent on giving her a ride, but when she politely and firmly refused, one of them put his hand around her neck and tried to kiss her, but she could be seen retreating, and protesting all the time.

As she tried to leave the scene, with the camera still on, the duo followed her on the scooter but she kept resisting, saying she wanted to return home. One of the miscreants offered to 'drop' her wherever she wanted to go, to which she replied she lived nearby.

Moving swiftly, the police managed to trace the duo to Patelnagar in Bandra and arrested them. A Bandra court sent them to remand for further investigation to continue.