mumbai

Updated: Oct 23, 2017 10:35 IST

“Yeh wali ladki mujhe chahiye (I want this girl),” was the brazen comment one of three men made as they stopped an autorickshaw and molested two women in it on one of Mumbai’s main thoroughfares, the Juhu-Versova Link Road on Saturday night.

The three — Rahul Revale, 25, Adil Khan, 21, and Yogesh Shevale, 24 — were arrested by the police who charged them with sexual harassment. Police are checking if the three have criminal records given the brazen manner in which they behaved, unfazed by threats to call the police. All three are residents of a slum pocket in Andheri (West) on the JVLR.

One of the women and her brother, who works in Pune, had come to visit their mother, who lives on Yari Road, for Diwali. On Saturday, they decided to go for dinner to Juhu where they met the other woman. After dinner around 2 am, they decided to return home together as they all lived on Yari Road.

The three accused, who were suspected to be drunk, accosted them as they were passing by and made lewd comments. The brother told them off and he and the women continued down JVLR in the autorickshaw. The three men then gave chase on a bike, yelling at the driver to stop the autorickshaw and abusing the women. When the driver tried to shake them off, they overtook the autorickshaw and forced it to a stop.

The three men then caught hold of one of the women and slapped and molested her. The brother of the other woman intervened but they assaulted him and molested the second woman also.

As the women and the brother put up strong resistance a passer-by came to their rescue. The three men started thrashing him too.

Someone else alerted the police who rushed to the spot and caught the three men and rescued the women.

The Versova police said they had the statement of the brother and would record the women’s statements in the next few days. The police have taken blood samples of the three arrested to find out if they were under the influence of alcohol.

An FIR has been registered on a complaint filed by the brother under sections 354 (sexual harassment), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt) and 34 (act done by several persons with common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

A police official said, “We have received their police custody for a day from a magistrate court. We have subjected them to medical test. We are checking if they have any past criminal record.”