Lucknow's Gomti Nagar harassment case is turning out to be a black spot on the Yogi Adityanath governance, especially in Uttar Pradesh Police forces. For the unversed, on Wednesday heavy rain led to waterlogging near the underpass in the Gomti Nagar area, close to the Taj Hotel and Sheroes Cafe in Lucknow. Thereafter, several men gathered at the spot and started harassing commuters on the waterlogged spot, splashing rainwater on them as they passed. At first, it seemed like they were just playing in the rain, later they went on to harass a woman. A bike-borne woman & a man fell down in the water-logged area due to the hooliganism of the men present there. The duo, unable to maintain balance, fell off the bike even as the men splashed dirty water on them. Soon, Gomti Nagar video went viral on social media, and the UP Government was slammed from left right & center by netizens.
Following the incident, the UP Police swung into action and a formal complaint was lodged against the accused in Gomtinagar. The police have filed a report against the accused under sections 191 (2), 3 (5), 272, 285, and 74 (related to outraging a woman’s modesty) of BNS 2023. Not only this, but UP CM Yogi removed DCP East, ADCP East, and ACP Gomtinagar from their posts for negligence with immediate effect. Furthermore, the inspector of Gomtinagar, the in-charge of Samtamulak Chowki, and all the policemen at the Chowki were suspended.
Now, the woman's friend who was riding the bike has broken his silence over the Gomti Nagar horror and narrated the ordeal what actually happened on that day. Below is an expert of the woman's friend as quoted by a Hindi daily-
My friend and I are preparing for UPSC. Most of the time is spent in the library. The library was closed for 3 days as it is in the basement. I thought the weather was fine, let's go and get some books from the library. I left home to get the books. I was returning from there when my friend was going in an auto. The rain was getting very heavy, so the auto driver refused to take her. He said that madam we cannot go to that side. There is a lot of water.
On this I told her that let's go, I will drop you on the other side. In response, my friend said - no, I will go. I told her that there was too much water. You will not be able to go. When I insisted, she agreed. As soon as we came out of the water, some boys were creating a ruckus there.
At first, I thought that they were playing. I did not think that they would do this. Suddenly they surrounded me from all sides. They started throwing water on my face by throwing it with their hands. After throwing water, they started pulling the bike. They took out the key of the bike. One boy started touching me inappropriately. During this, the bike got imbalanced. While trying to escape from the hooligans, my friend and the bike fell down. After my friend fell down, a boy touched her indecently, who has not been caught yet. We want him to be caught. Action should be taken against him, because all this is visible in the video. They did such a thing, which cannot be described.
First I scolded, explained, then folded my hands. Brother, calm down, what are you doing. But they did not listen to me. They continued to misbehave. Those people had gone absolutely crazy at that time. We were trapped in the midst of wild animals. Somehow we were able to escape from their clutches."
...When we left from there, my friend was crying. After a while, she told me that those people touched her inappropriately. I was shocked to hear this. What happened in my presence? Then I thought I would take action against the accused, but later I felt that things could get worse.
After coming out of the water, I called the police. The police were late in coming. They came after 15 to 20 minutes. It was good that they were suspended, they deserved it. The police reached there and removed the hooligans from there. My bike broke down in front of the Taj Hotel. A young man passing by gave me a tool kit from his car. Somehow, I was able to fix the bike in 30 minutes. Then I dropped my friend at home."
Gomti Nagar Case Update
Taking cognizance of the incident, an FIR was lodged at Gomti Nagar police station. As per reports, UP Police formed four different teams, including a crime team, to apprehend the culprits. Till now, a total of 16 men have been arrested in the case.
Speaking on the Lucknow harassment case in the UP Assembly, CM Yogi Adityanath said, "We have also fixed accountability in the incident of yesterday in Gomti Nagar. The list of its culprits has also come to me. The first culprit is Pawan Yadav and the second culprit is Mohammad Arbaaz. ...Are these people of Sadbhavna (goodwill)? That means now we will run a Sadbhavna train for them? No, the bullet train will work for them. Don't worry, preparations are being made for that bullet train. Women's safety is of utmost importance to us. We had said this on the first day that if someone messes up, he will have to pay the price for it."