MUMBAI: While sifting through CCTV footage for a cellphone thief, officers from Khar police station accidentally found video grabs of a homeless woman being molested on the street where she lived. Police registered an FIR and tracked down the accused, a 50-year-old watchman, taking him into custody.
The victim is 25 and has been living on the footpath for five years. Her husband was arrested in an offence and is behind bars.
Around 2am on August 2, she was asleep on the footpath, when the accused took off her bed-sheet and touched her inappropriately. She woke up with a start and raised an alarm. Another homeless woman nearby rushed to her aid and the accused fled.
The woman did not press charges.
Few days later, police were checking CCTV footage from the area to trace a mobilephone thief when they found the molestation captured on camera. On Saturday, the victim narrated what had happened and agreed to lodge a complaint. Police arrested the watchman, Ramchandra Goutam, within 24 hours.
Officials said they offered to lodge her in a women's shelter but she refused.
She said she would wait for her husband to be released from prison and would then return to their hometown in Karnataka with him as she did not wish to stay on in Mumbai.
(The victim's identity has not been revealed to protect her privacy as per Supreme court directives on cases related to sexual assault)
