MUMBAI: A security guard was arrested on Sunday for allegedly sexually assaulting an eight-year-old girl inside a restroom in south Mumbai’s Pydhonie area, triggering a protest by local residents, police said.
While the girl is being treated at a hospital, the accused was arrested soon after a complaint was lodged, an official said.
The incident triggered widespread outrage, with hundreds of people gathering outside the Pydhonie police station demanding exemplary punishment for the accused.
Eyewitnesses said some protesters also surrounded Maharashtra Legislative Assembly Speaker Rahul Narwekar when he visited the police station after learning about the incident and raised slogans seeking strict action against the accused.
The protesters briefly blocked the road outside the police station, disrupting traffic before police dispersed the crowd and restored normalcy, the official said.
Heavy police deployment has been made in the area to prevent any flare-up or untoward incident, he added.
In a post on X, NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar called the alleged assault on the minor an “outrageous and extremely serious” incident, coming soon after the sentencing in the Nasrapur case, involving the rape-murder of a three-year-old child, in Pune district.
Pawar claimed that the “absence of swift justice” in all such cases had weakened the deterrence of law, and called for the speedy disposal of such trials as well as the immediate implementation of the Shakti Act, which has stringent provisions for such crimes.
He said he had raised the demand during the ongoing legislature session and urged the government to act, while praying for the girl’s speedy recovery.
In the Nasrapur case, a 65-year-old was convicted and handed a triple death sentence within 60 days of the crime, Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had said last month.