At least 20 youths have been booked by the Barabanki police for allegedly harassing the wife and daughter of a police sub inspector outside the gate of police lines.

Six teams have been pressed into service to nab the accused.

SHO Kotwali, Sanjay Maurya, said, “The woman and her 15-year-old daughter were returning after buying vegetables from the market on Wednesday night when 10-12 youths made obscene gestures. When the mother and daughter raised an alarm, the youths sexually harassed them.”

Later, the cop’s wife narrated the incident to her family members who reached the spot.

When the family members confronted the youths, they started abusing them as well, said Maurya citing the FIR.

Seeing the melee, a police team reached the spot following which the accused fled.

Maurya said based on the CCTV footage and information the accused identified as Salman, Priyam Jain, Yeiya, Biswa, Raghav Agarwal, Vikas Kumar, Vivek Kumar, Durgesh Singh and 10-12 unidentified others have been booked under the charges of Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012 (POCSO), IPC 354 (using criminal force to outrage modesty of woman) and others.

“We have launched a manhunt and the arrests will be made soon,” said Maurya.

(The story has been published via a syndicated feed with a modified headline.)