Surat Police arrested a youth accused of publicly molesting girls in Gujarat’s Surat on 11th December. The police became active and arrested him in just 48 hours owing to a lot of effort after a video of molestation on the road went viral. The accused has been identified as Mohammad Naeemuddin also known as Armaan Abdul Jabbar. The authorities reportedly took out a procession on the road to humiliate him before presenting him in court.
Footage of the offender harassing some girls went viral online after which an inquiry revealed that the video was from a society in the Udhna area of Surat. A team of 200 policemen was formed to nab the perpetrator while 700 CCTV recordings had to be examined. Seven teams of 100 officers were assembled by the city police, who spent restless nights reviewing the footage from 700 CCTV cameras along the 12-kilometre route the man took after committing the crime, as per reports. The public was furious over the crime and the authorities were under pressure to solve the case.
Furthermore, the cops also had to take the help of CCTV experts. According to information, a 33-second video of the incident went viral in which two girls were seen standing on a scooty outside the house in the society. A young man then approached and started troubling a girl sitting on the vehicle while the other one fled from there. The first girl also managed to walk away from him.
After reviewing footage from 700 CCTVs and deploying a force of 200 cops, the Surat Police have successfully arrested 19-year-old Mohd Naeemuddin, alias Armaan Abdul Jabbar, for molesting women on the road during the evenings.
— Treeni (@TheTreeni) December 12, 2024
Commendable job by @CP_SuratCity for apprehending… pic.twitter.com/BeCwrHVO8v
After both the girls left, he tried to do the same with another pair of girls who were passing from there. They also attempted to escape but the culprit caught one of them and misbehaved with them. She also somehow managed to free herself from his clutches. The offender acknowledged that whenever he saw a girl, he would become excited. Since it was a Sunday (8th December) on the day of the incident, he was free. He went to the market to see women and girls because the night market outside Aman Society attracts a lot of people.
He had visited the society once before, so he was aware of it. He travelled there and began harassing the girls who came his way. He made sexual advances and grabbed a couple of females inappropriately. He absconded from the society later when the girls became alert. Police discovered that he assaulted two additional females in the same society, after the arrest. He had been booked under sections 74, 75 of Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) and sections 7, 8, 11, and 12 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
The matter was reported to Udhna Ploce Station after an investigation was launched. Deputy Commissioner of Police (DCP) Bhagirath Garhvi (Zone II) stated that the police started tracking the accused on the basis of CCTV footage. They also contacted the victims and their families as well as asked them to assist in the legal process. The heads of the local society were also approached and help was sought from other police stations to nab the Muslim young man.
“After we received the complaint, we made teams comprising the Udhna surveillance squad, five police stations under Zone II, and the DCB. The teams started working and traced him by watching 700 CCTVs of societies, shops, SMC, and police on the 12-kilometre route the man travelled to reach his home in Un village,” the official added and highlighted, “We are investigating if he was involved in other such activities.”
Inspector S N Desai of Udhna police station disclosed, “After leaving the society, he walked on the lanes and main roads of Udhna. As the incident took place at night, we were not able to see his face on many CCTVs. However, we traced him from his walking pattern. He also had a pattern of keeping his left hand intact as if he was a disabled person. However, he was normal. He took auto-rickshaws a couple of times and got down from the vehicles to misguide police. However, our teams finally traced him to Un village.”
He came to Surat 1.5 years ago for labour work,and comes from the Katihar area of Bihar. He was employed as a labourer and made thick thread used in making beds.
