A 34-year-old woman has alleged that she was harassed and molested by a motorcycle rider in front of her husband in Bengaluru’s JP Nagar area. The woman, Amrita* and her husband Raghav* were travelling on a scooter and had stopped at a traffic signal near the Raghavendra Swamy mutt in JP Nagar’s second stage when a man on a bike stopped next to them and began to stare at her.

Amrita initially ignored him but then grew increasingly uncomfortable and informed her husband. When Raghav called the man out for his behaviour, the man got agitated. He got off his motorcycle and started abusing the couple. According to the complaint made to the JP Nagar police, he also allegedly molested Amrita. When the couple tried to retaliate and stop him, the man used his helmet to assault Raghav.

By then, a crowd had gathered around them. The signal had turned green and drivers of vehicles behind them began to protest that traffic was being held up because of them. Eventually, a BMTC staff member, who was passing by, came to help the couple and helped disperse the crowd.

The couple then decided to approach the JP Nagar police to lodge a complaint against the man. The accused followed them to the police station to file a counter complaint against the couple. However, the police arrested the man after verifying the incident with the help of CCTV footage. The police also noted that the man was driving under the influence of alcohol and took him into custody. The accused has been identified as 31-year-old Kiran S, a resident of Gourava Nagar in JP Nagar 7th phase. He is a salesman at a liquor shop in Peenya.

Kiran has been booked under sections 354 (sexual harassment), 506 (criminal intimidation), 509 (insult to the modesty of a woman), and 324 (assault) of the IPC