Hug me, street harasser tells girls; lands in police net

Bengaluru: A 20-year-old mason who allegedly harassed girls and pestered them to hug him, has landed in police custody. Manikanta alias Mani, a resident of Muneshwara Block, Vyalikaval, was arrested on Wednesday. Vyalikaval police received two complaints against him on Tuesday. The mason first accosted a college girl on Tuesday morning near Sadashivanagar swimming pool area. He asked her to hug him and suggested that she marry him. The college girl fled the place and lodged a police complaint in the evening. Around the same time, the parents of a schoolgirl arrived at the station and told police their daughter had been harassed by a youth. The bike-borne youth had accosted the high school girl at 4.30pm when she was heading home and said: 'Please hug me and marry me.' The student raised an alarm and passersby thrashed Manikanta, who managed to escape before police arrived. In a hurry, he left behind his bike. The description of the accused provided by the two girls matched. Police got in touch with RTO officials with the details of the abandoned motorcycle and based on the address provided, they picked up Manikanta for questioning on Wednesday morning. Manikanta was booked under the Pocso Act and Section 354 A of IPC (outraging modesty of woman). Both the girls identified him as their tormentor. Locals told police the accused is notorious for harassing girls. "He would stop his motorbike near them, pass lewd comments and speed away," they said.

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