Sexual harassment in guise of begging!

An elderly man was arrested by Rajshahi police yesterday on charges of sexual assault.

On the previous day, a video of the man sexually harassing women and girls while begging for alms in the crowd at Rajshahi's busy RDA market had gained traction on social media.

Noticing the video, police began an investigation into the matter.

The man was identified as Enamul Haque Bulu (62), a father of two daughters and a son, said Nibaran Chandra Burman, OC of Boalia police station.

Hailing from Naogaon, he lived in a rented house in Rajshahi city's Shekher Chalk area, he said.

Police thoroughly investigated into the matter, they talked to his family members, eye witnesses and scrutinised available video footages, the OC said.

"We found that Bulu was deliberately harassing women in the streets under the guise of begging," said the OC.

One of his victims is a 16-year-old schoolgirl. She had attempted to help him when he saw him shivering in the cold winter morning of last December 28 near Baroda Kalimata temple in the city's Kumarpara area.

"Can you help me? I can't walk," Bulu had told her. The girl tried to give him a hand to help him get up, and then she was sexually harassed.

She immediately ran and then returned to the spot with her relatives, but Bulu had fled by then.

Yesterday morning, the girl learnt from social media that the man was found and arrested by the police.

Accompanied by her relatives, she went to Boalia police station and filed a case against him for sexually harassing her, confirmed OC Nibaran.