Girl molested by colleagues

Tamaghna Banerjee | TNN | Feb 19, 2017, Kolkata: A 25-year-old woman and her colleague were allegedly molested by two senior team leaders of a BPO at an apartment in Baguiati on Friday evening after they had allegedly called the two girls home to train them in soft skills. The incident happened at Jardabagan area in Baguiati where Avishek Anand and Sambit Chowdhury share a third-floor flat on rent at the standalone building named Jharna Apartment.

After a round of discussion and a few drinks later, one of the women passed out. And when a male colleague grabbed her hand, the 25-year-old girl attempted to call police using a mobile app. She then sked the youth the way to the washroom. Finding it closer to the main entrance, she ran out of the flat.

However, she did not flee leaving the other girl there. Instead, she knocked at the door of a neighbour on the ground floor, informing them about the incident. The neighbour informed other flat owners and called police before locking the main door of the youths' flat from outside. Officers of Baguiati police station reached the spot in a short while and arrested the two.

The case is similar to what was portrayed in the 2016 movie 'Pink', where a girl was molested by men she knew and had gone out for drinks with. The girl and her friends in the movie were criticized by police and neighbours for having gone out for drinks with the boys in the first place, casting aspersions on their characters. In Friday evening's case, however, the girl received support from neighbours and police who arrested the two men on charges of molestation and wrongful restraint and produced them in a Barasat court.

According to the complaint, the two girls were called to the flat by Anand to discuss their progress in the job and brush their soft skill techniques while handling outstation calls. They had reached the flat around 4pm and after some discussion had food and liquour. Around 9.30pm, one of the girls felt dizzy and passed out in a room. The complainant was still chatting with the two and asked for a cigarette. Both youths then stepped out of the room and she could allegedly hear one of them saying, "You go first in this room. I will check out the other girl".

"One of them came inside and held my hand and tried to get close to me. I refused and said no, but he did not listen. I realized I will not be able to fight him, and so I asked him to excuse me for a minute as I had to go to the washroom. Seeing the washroom next to the main door, I fled," the complainant wrote.