Molestation case filed 17 years after incident, accused confesses to crime

A 43-year-old woman from Vartak Nagar has filed a complaint under IPC section 354, 17 years after she was allegedly molested by a family member. The accused, Nitin Keshav Bangera, stays at Mira Road with his wife and children and has confessed to the crime. Upon the woman's complaint, the cops arrested Bangera and produced him in court on Tuesday.

On April 6, 1997, the woman was sleeping in her room when the accused, who was 19 years old at the time and was in the adjoining room, crept into her room and lay down next to her. A few minutes later, the woman woke up to the accused touching her inappropriately and kissing her. She pushed him away and scolded him for his actions, but didn't inform the rest of the family as she felt it would disturb the household environment.

A few years ago, the accused started taunting and reminding the woman of the incident. When the rest of the family finally got to know about the initial alleged incident, it led to several arguments. These in turn made the situation much worse than it already was, so the woman lodged a complaint with the Vartak Nagar police on July 7 at around 6pm. The accused was arrested from his residence at Mira Road and brought to the police station. While Bangera initially denied the allegations, he later admitted to committing the crime and was put behind bars.

"We have arrested the accused and produced him in court. Owing to family problems, the woman filed a complaint after many years. We have taken statements of both parties and are investigating further," informed Nitin Bangale, senior PI, Vartak Nagar police station. The accused has been booked under IPC section 354 (Assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty).