A man who had boarded an app cab driven by a woman from the airport on Tuesday was arrested for allegedly touching her inappropriately and then sending her objectionable text messages.
Police said the woman, in her 30s, had picked up Sourav Sinha, 43, an Indian-born Australian citizen, from Calcutta airport on Tuesday morning and dropped him near Gariahat.
“According to the complaint, the man had touched the woman app cab driver in an inappropriate way and when she had protested, he had reportedly apologised. He alighted at his destination but later in the day, he had texted the woman asking her to come to his hotel at night after her duty hours,” said an officer of Gariahat police station.
The woman cabbie first reported the matter to the officials of the app cab association and then went outside the hotel in south Calcutta where Sinha was staying.
“The woman called him up and asked him to come out of the hotel, luring him into a trap. When he stepped out, she and the app cab association persons brought him to the police station,” the police officer said.
The police said the woman brought her alleged perpetrator to Gariahat police station at 11.45 pm on Tuesday.
She lodged a formal complaint against him.
On the basis of her complaint, the police have started a case under sections of sexual harassment and outrage of modesty of a woman through words and gestures.
Sinha was arrested and his mobile phone, from where he had allegedly sent the text message to the woman, was seized as evidence for the investigation.
Sinha, who is originally from Lucknow is an Australian national from the year 2016 and lives in Brisbane, said Shankha Shubhra Chakrabarty, joint commissioner (crime), Calcutta police.
The charges against Sinha, if proved before the court, could lead to a maximum punishment of three years of imprisonment.
A senior police officer said: “We advise women to carry pepper sprays to protect themselves from unwanted situations. Dialling 100 is also an option to seek immediate help from the police in case someone is attacked or subjected to torture,” said the senior officer.