One taken into custody in JNU molestation case

Senior police source said that a person accused of molestation on Jawaharlal Nehru University campus was arrested by Delhi Police, here on Sunday.

According to Deputy Commissioner of Police, Southwest, Gaurav Sharma, the suspect has been arrested. He is 27-year-old Akshay Daulai from 24 Parganas, West Bengal.

As of now, the accused was living in the Munirka area, next to the campus, and working at Bhikaji Cama Place in a mobile repair shop.

The incident occurred on Monday at about 11.45 pm when she was walking inside the campus. Despite her cries for help, the accused fled the spot on his motorcycle.

Thereafter, a case was registered at the Vasant Kunj North police station under sections 354A (Sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment), 354B (Assault or use of criminal force to woman with intent to disrobe), 323 (Punishment for voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (Punishment for wrongful restraint), 379 (punishment for theft) of the IPC and an investigation initiated.

According to the DCP, the accused drank alcohol with his shop owner before coming to the JNU campus on the day of the incident as he had a fight with his wife.

"Going to the JNU campus was a casual routine for him as he had been doing the job of ticket reservation from 2011-2015. During those years, he used to daily go to the ticketing counter in campus because of which he was well aware of every street and road inside the university," Sharma said.

On Monday, the accused spotted the student and followed her inside the campus.

Upon reaching the east gate of the university, the accused approached the girl and tried to molest her," the DCP stated. The victim resisted and threatened to report the matter to the police, so the accused fled the area with her phone.

In beginning their investigation into the case, DCP Sharma noted that they faced several challenges.

He stated, "The first challenge was that there was no entry of the motorcycle registered in the register book at the University gate and secondly when we examined the CCTV cameras, their quality was very poor so the culprit and his motorcycle could not be identified."

The police then analyzed nearly 1,000 CCTV cameras to track the suspect's location, and he was eventually traced to Munirka, where he was caught.

The official revealed that they have recovered his stolen mobile phone, as well as the clothes he was wearing on the day of the incident.