Mumbai: Two days after an 18-year-old collegian posted a video on social networking site Instagram about an auto rickshaw driver masturbating while looking in the rearview mirror, Goregaon Police arrested the accused and booked him under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code. In a social media post, the collegian had shared her ordeal and said that the incident occurred in broad daylight around 7.30am, where she was decently dressed according to the college protocols, leaving no space for provocation that led to the indecent act. The teen, student of a Malad-based college, had hailed an auto rickshaw, MH-02-EF-6437, from Siddharth Nagar in Goregaon (W) to reach the educational institution on February 29 morning. The driver, identified as Ashok Manilal Kharvi, 49, took short cuts and plied through the lanes to avoid traffic signals.

When the auto rickshaw reached MG Road petrol pump, the teen realised that Kharvi was staring at her from the rearview mirror and masturbating. In her social media post, the teen said, "At first I didn't realise, but within a minute I knew what he was doing. At one point I had to literally cover myself with my bag." Even as Kharvi was touching himself, the teen asked Kharvi to stop the auto, to which the driver retorted by saying, "Madam Malad jaana hai na, abhi tak Goregaon mein hi hai" (Didn't you want to go to Malad, we are yet to cross Goregaon).

The teen thought it would be better to stop the vehicle in a crowded place and asked him to stop again. When Kharvi asked her the reason, the teen said that she was meeting a friend. Kharvi, who refused to budge, said, "I will drop you ahead. Are you going to board another auto?" To this, the teen told him it was none of his business whether she boarded another vehicle or walked down the remaining distance. The teen then got off at an MTNL signal and boarded another auto and went off to college. Moreover, later in her post, the teen mentioned that she was fully dressed and was not wearing any revealing clothes to provocate Kharvi's behaviour. The teen also posted the auto's registration number of the auto, which was noticed by a Twitter user, who tagged the Mumbai Police on Sunday. The Twitter team immediately alerted Goregaon Police, who traced the vehicle, arrested Kharvi on Monday and booked him under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for sexual harassment (section 354A) and word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman (section 509). Police said, Kharvi was produced in a local magistrate court and was remanded in police custody for a day.