Mass molestation incident recorded and shared online; arrests made after video goes viral

Three tribal men were arrested on Sunday for allegedly sexually harassing women in full public view in Alirajpur district of Madhya Pradesh while two others were detained for filming this incident and posting videos on social media, police said on Sunday.

Efforts are on to arrest three to four more persons who were involved in harassing women and instigated the other accused, a police officer said.

“We have detained the man who made the video and another one who made it viral. Besides, we have arrested three accused who were seen misbehaving with women,” Alirajpur Superintendent of Police Manoj Singh told PTI.

The arrested accused and the detained men are tribals, he said.

The video showed some men, who appeared to be in their 20s, pushing and hugging some women walking on a crowded street and trying to kiss them forcibly amid shouting by other men. At least two men involved in the act were seen wearing saffron towels. However, the police denied that the "molesters" were politically affiliated.

Singh said the trio was booked under sections 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with an intent to outrage her modesty) and 345-A (sexual harassment) and 34 (criminal acts done by several persons with common intention) of the Indian Penal Code.

“No woman has lodged a complaint with us. We took the action based on the video that has gone viral,” he added.

The incident occurred two days back in the Wallpur area of the tribal-dominated Alirajpur district, around 392 km away from Bhopal.

“Yes, we have detained the man who shot this video and another who made it viral on Saturday,” another police officer said.

Some locals from Alirajpur said this video was shot on Friday. The miscreants were visiting Wallpur to participate in 'Bhagoriya', a tribal festival when the incident occurred.