Bangalore, May 2: A 57-year-old man died after he took objection to two molesters making snide remarks at his niece and was punched and pushed about by the duo at Ambedkarnagar, DJ Halli, off Tannery Road, late on Monday night.
The victim, Alagesh alias Alagaiah, an employee of BEML tools department, was a heart patient and had undergone bypass surgery four months ago. He was rushed to Mediscope hospital as he complained of severe chest pain after he was manhandled by the two youths. He died in hospital.
The accused have been identified as Karunakaran alias Karuna and Deepu alias Deepakraj, both residents of Ayodhya Das Nagar, a few hundred metres away from Ambedkarnagar. Both the accused are in their early 20s. They are school dropouts and work as mosaic tile polishers, police said. They have been arrested and booked under Section 304 of IPC (culpable homicide not amounting to murder).
Alagesh's 13-year-old niece, Hemamalini (name changed), went to a grocer's shop near her home to buy some provisions at 6.30 pm. The grocer had to pay the girl 50 paise and he told her that he did not have the change. The girl insisted that she be given the change. The grocer in turn chided her. The two accused, who were smoking in front of the shop, asked the girl whether she would build a house with the 50 paise.
Insulted, Hema returned home and told her mother, Nalina, that the two youths had teased her. Around 8.30 pm, the accused were passing before Hema's house and the girl told her mother that they were the ones who had teased her. The woman questioned the youths on why they had teased her daughter. "Yes. We did. So what?" the youths shot back. Alagesh, who stayed next door, came out and intervened.
"Deepu held Alagesh, while Karuna punched him and pushed him on to the ground," Hema's mother said. Alagesh collapsed on the spot and was rushed to hospital. According to the girl, the accused had the habit of teasing girls. "They always stand near the shop and tease girls and women," she told police.
Alagesh is survived by two sons. Hailing from Vellore in Tamil Nadu, Alagesh was brother of Hema's father Vijay Kumar. The brothers had moved to Bangalore 25 years ago."
What law says
Though the law in India doesn't use the term 'eve-teasing', victims usually seek recourse through Section 298 (A) and (B) of the IPC. It sentences a man found guilty of making a girl or woman the target of obscene gestures, remarks, songs or recitation to a maximum jail sentence of three months. Section 292 of the IPC says that showing pornographic or obscene pictures, books or slips to a woman or girl draws a fine of Rs 2,000 with two years of imprisonment of either description for first offenders. In the case of a repeated offence, the penalty will be a five-year jail term with a fine of Rs 5,000. Under Section 509 of IPC, obscene gestures, indecent body language or acidic comments directed at any woman or girl or exhibits any such object or intrudes upon the privacy of woman carries a penalty of simple imprisonment for one year or a fine or both.
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