KOLKATA: A young woman, employed with a top clothes brand as a salesgirl, was allegedly beaten up and molested outside the Salt Lake City Centre on Friday night when she was returning to her residence at night after work. The accused, said police, is known to the girl. Of late, she was being stalked and harassed by this youth after the victim refused to marry him. The Salt Lake police have registered a case of molestation and hurt and is further investigating the case.

The youth, who is presently absconding, is said to be a resident of Lake Town and is presently employed with a paints factory nearby. What though has shocked cops is the brazen manner in which hundreds of shoppers and passersby who was present near the City Centre gave the incident a complete miss and refused to intervene even as the woman was forfully dragged and punched by the accused.

According to the Bidhannagar commissionerate, the woman was in a relationship earlier with the accused after they met and stuck up a friendship about three years ago. However, sometime back, the victim distanced herself from the accused and refused the marriage proposal given by the accused on several occasions earlier. "On Friday night, as the woman finished her duty at the clothes showroom, she came out of the City Centre and came face to face with the accused," said an investigating officer.

The cops said that as soon as the girl refused marriage yet again, the accused began pulling her forcing her to follow him. As the victim managed to escape, the accused slapped the victim twice. Finally the accused even punched her. This led to a cut on the woman’s lips. Cops said that it was at this point that the accused fled the spot. "The victim, residing near tank 4, kept on shouting for help while the accused to drag her along with him. But no one even cared to call us at the spot," said a senior officer adding a patrol vehicle was stationed just metres away.

The victim said the youth worked with her at a shop earlier. "When I rejected his marriage proposal, he pounced upon me repeatedly hitting me. I was forced to leave my earlier job because he constantly harassed me," said the girl, adding the bystanders did not come to her rescue despite her screams.

A manhunt has now been launched to nab the accused. "We are raiding the accused’s hideouts at Lake Town and Dakshindari in order to nab him. We are looking in to CCTV footage to ascertain the exact movement of the accused and whether he was being accompanied by someone else. Besides this we are trying to arrange for the woman’s statement in front of a magistrate under CrPC 164. We hope to build a strong case against the accused," said a senior police officer.