In India to cover Lok Sabha Elections, American journalist molested, harassed in Indirapuram

A Ghaziabad man was arrested for allegedly molesting a US-based freelance journalist of Indian origin near Shipra Suncity in Indirapuram on Friday night. The accused has been identified as 31-year-old Nishant Kaushik, who worked in a private firm in Noida and lived in the same housing society as the journalist in Indirapuram. The police said that Kaushik allegedly followed the 38-year-old journalist in his car for around 50 minutes, making lewd remarks all the while. At one point, he allegedly even asked her, 'Chalti hai kya nau se baarah?' (which roughly translates to, ‘do you want to come with me…’)

Kaushik was arrested later that night after she filed a police complaint. But the woman said that the incident had left her so shaken and terrified that she had decided to return to the US. She and her sister, also a journalist, had come to India in January and rented a flat in Indirapuram as they wanted to cover the general elections.

“The incident happened around 10 pm on Friday. The accused followed her in his car for some time and passed comments. He molested her as well. We have arrested him,” said a police officer.

“I visited three shops in the locality and the man followed me in his Swift Dzire. This went on for nearly 50 minutes. He even tried to stop the rickshaw, I was travelling in, a few times. When I encountered him, he touched me inappropriately,” the woman said in her complaint as reported by ToI.

She called the guards of the housing society when she was near her and also made a phone call to her sister for help. “I rushed to the gate and called the police control room. The accused was drunk and misbehaved with us when we tried to resist. He tried to flee, but the guards caught hold of him and handed him over to police,” the sister said.

Sandeep Singh, station house officer of Indirapuram police station, said, “Based on the woman’s complaint, an FIR under sections 354 D (assault or criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC has been registered at Indirapuram police station. The accused has been arrested and sent to jail while his car has been seized by police.”