Army man arrested for molesting senior officer's daughter

Bengaluru, Sep 15: A 25-year-old army man has been arrested on charge of molesting the teenaged daughter of his superior officer, after barging into her house in Bengaluru. He also reportedly issued death threats to the victim's family when they decided to initiate action against him.

The victim's father, a senior officer with the Border Security Force (BSF), has also alleged that he tried to take the issue up with senior BSF officials, but finally decided to lodge a complaint with the local police after failing to get a positive response from them.

In his complaint, the officer alleged that the accused BSF constable barged into the house and after finding his daughter alone, misbehaved with her. The victim, a student at a private engineering college in the city, reportedly spurned his advances, but the accused persisted in his sexual advances.

As per the police complaint lodged, on September 10 -- at around 5pm -- a junior rank officer, formerly reporting to the victim's father, barged into her home and 'proposed' to her. She initially tried to resist his efforts, but eventually called out to her mother after he persisted. When the girl's mother appeared, she saw the accused trying to bolt from the house. She attempted to stop him, but the man reportedly threatened her that he would kill everyone in the family if she complained against him to his superiors.

The girl's father said he was not at home when the incident occurred, and his family did not inform him about it until the next day.

"I spotted the accused near my house and caught him. Initially he apologised to me when I questioned him about his behavior with my daughter. But I told him I would bring it to the notice of senior officers and get some action initiated against him for his act," he added. According to the police, the victim's father immediately called the deputy inspector general of police (DIG) and complained against the accused.

"The victim spoke to the DIG and narrated the entire sequence of events, but there was no action taken so they decided to approach us," said a senior police official.

The police also added that though the BSF usually initiates action against its personnel after conducting an internal probe based on the allegations, the victim's family claimed that they did not get any assistance, thus forcing them to lodge a police complaint against the accused. The victim's family has also alleged that the accused had been harassing their daughter for the last four months and had issued threatened to kill her if she spurned him.

A case has been registered and the accused has been booked under relevant acts including the POCSO Act.