Magician arrested for molesting girl

TT, Jalpaiguri, May 30: A magician was arrested last night for allegedly molesting a girl while teaching her magic tricks at a fair.

Kotwali police said the 12-year-old girl, a resident of Jalpaiguri, had been molested on Saturday.

"On Saturday evening, the girl had gone to a fair with her father. Dayamoy Haldar, the magician, had put a stall at the fair. He was selling different items for magic. The girl went to the stall and bought some of those items. The magician then called her to a small enclosure located next to the stall to teach her a few tricks and molested the girl," said a police officer.

"Later at night, the girl narrated the incident to her mother. Yesterday, the girl's family filed a complaint with the child welfare committee. They also filed a complaint with us. We went to the fair yesterday night and arrested the magician," he added.

Haldar, 32, is a resident of Farakka of Murshi-dabad district.

"We have arrested the accused on the basis of a complaint filed by the girl's family. Our officers have started investigating the case and Haldar has been booked under Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012," Akash Magharia, the superintendent of police of Jalpaiguri, said.

Today, Haldar was produced in the chief judicial magistrate's court in Jalpaiguri.

The court heard the case and Haldar was sent to police custody for 14 days.