Gazi Abbas Shahid
Starting as a ground reporter back in his home UT of Jammu and Kashmir, Gazi has been a part of the news industry for well over a decade. While he finds every type of news engrossing, politics, partic ... Read More
New Delhi: A Pune-based engineer was arrested by the Maharashtra Police on Tuesday for allegedly masturbating and making “lewd” gestures next to a female co-passenger aboard a Pune-Nagpur flight. According to officials, the accused, identified as 32-year-old Feroze Sheikh Noor Mohammad, who was seated next to the victim on the aircraft, made lewd gestures at her and then masturbated next to her.
Sheikh, a resident of Durrani Complex in Mithanagar area of Kondhwa in Pune– is an engineer by profession and was travelling to an industrial water plant at Koradi, near Nagpur, for work. Ironically, the accused is set to be married next month.
Giving details, police said Feroze Sheikh allegedly made lewd gestures at the 40-year old woman teacher mid-air and then masturbated before her. The victim was flying to Nagpur to attend her father’s funeral in Chandrapur late on Monday, they said.
“The 40-year-old woman complainant, a resident of Chandrapur, was on her way to Nagpur to perform the last rites of her father”, an official of Sonegaon police station said, adding that the accused allegedly made unwanted advances towards her after the plane landed at the Nagpur airport.
A Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) jawan who was on board intervened and restrained Sheikh before reporting the incident to police, the official said.
Sheikh was subsequently booked under Indian Penal Code sections 354 (assaulting or using criminal force to any woman, intending to outrage her modesty), 354 (a) (sexual harassment) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and further probe was on, he said.
According to reports, the woman had fallen asleep after the flight took off, the accused took advantage of this situation and allegedly molested her during this time. The victim suddenly awoke and witnessed Sheikh exposing his privates while touching her and making lewd gestures.
Sheikh tried to flee when the flight the landed at the Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar International Airport, however, the woman alerted the CISF, the flight crew and the ground staff who stopped him from escaping and handed him over to the cops at the Sonegaon Police Station.
Sheikh has been sent to 14 days judicial custody, an official said, adding that further investigation is underway.
(With PTI inputs)
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