Mother uses social media to catch daughter's molester

A Mumbai woman posed as her 15-year-old daughter on a social media site and caught hold of the boy who sexually harassed her daughter last month.

Accused is a 15-year-old

In the police complaint lodged at DB Marg police station, the mother mentioned that the incident occurred on July 21, 2018. Her daughter's classmate gave her a call inviting her home. When the girl got there, her classmate's parents were not home and only her brother was present. The classmate too left to have dinner at an uncle’s place. The boy (her classmate's brother) forcibly hugged the girl and tried to kiss her, as they were alone. She managed to push him away as he molested her. The girl, traumatised, fled eventually.

She seemed low on returning home and slept without having dinner. Her mother noticed her behaviour and released something was wrong.

Next day, she checked her daughter’s phone. She saw that someone had sent her a slew of lewd direct messages (DM) on Instagram. To get to root and track down the sender, she posed as her daughter and replied to the messages.

She confronted her daughter, who broke down and spoke of the incident. The girl’s mother, soon after, called up the boy telling him to confess to his parents about his misdeeds. She also spoke to the boy’s mother who asked her to forgive him.

The traumatised girl refused to go to school for four days. On July 26, she finally went to school. On returning home, she told her mother that her classmates’ behaviour towards her had changed. She felt extremely uncomfortable. The girl’s parents met the school principal next day. The teacher confirmed that girl seemed depressed in class. The boy's parents requested the girl's folks to not file a case. However, the girl's parents could not see their daughter suffer. They registered an FIR against the 15-year-old boy on August 3.

The boy was arrested and booked for molestation under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code, IT Act and Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act. He is currently at the Dongri remand home.