Mumbai: In a shocking incident, a 21-year-old woman jumped off a moving autorickshaw in Mulund (W) on Thursday night, when the driver refused to turn in the direction she requested but instead, headed to a secluded area. Police booked the unidentified autorickshaw driver under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code and arrested the 35-year-old early on Saturday morning and produced him in a local magistrate court.
Police said, the incident occurred on Thursday, around 11pm, when the woman, a resident of Mulund (W), had boarded an autorickshaw from Mulund Colony to Panchratna area. While the woman was on her phone, she was aware of the driver staring at her from the rearview mirror. She objected to this and then asked the driver to turn left towards her home, but the driver turned right instead.
Shocked by this, the woman asked him to to take a U-turn, when the driver reportedly told her, “Chup baith, main jidhar leke ja raha hoon, udhar chupchaap chalo (Be quiet, just come wherever I am taking you).” The woman panicked and seized the first chance she had to escape when the autorickshaw slowed down at a speedbreaker near Mulund Darshan building and jumped from the vehicle. In the process, she hit the speedbreaker and sustained a head injury and bruises on her hands. In the meanwhile, the autorickshaw driver sped off.
Passersby came to the woman’s rescue and rushed her to a hospital, while informing her parents about the incident. The woman received three stitches to her forehead and is recuperating in the hospital, police said.
Meanwhile, her parents lodged a complaint against the auto driver at Mulund police station late on Thursday, and he was booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code for using word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman (section 509). Police scrutinised the CCTV camera footage of the area and secured his vehicle’s number plate, which was then shared with the Regional Transport Office (RTO) and the man was arrested on Saturday morning.
