Mumbai shocker: Three brothers who were booked for coaching courses because of years of sexual harassment of minors

Three brothers who run a coaching center in south Mumbai have been booked by Mumbai police for allegedly sexually assaulting a 15-year-old girl over a period of nearly two years. The girl said that the brothers forced her to come early and stay late at the coaching center, where they repeatedly abused her. According to an Indian Express report, two of the brothers were arrested on Saturday after a child development center where the victim had confided in a counselor in March lodged a police complaint on Friday. The eldest brother remains at large and police are currently searching for him.

The accused, aged 24, 25 and 27, lived in south Mumbai and ran a coaching center for students from classes 7 to 12. The center was attended by around 35 to 40 girls. The victim entered the center in 2022 after moving in with her mother following her parents’ divorce. Her mother first noticed behavioral changes in late 2022, which led to her being admitted to a child development center in January of the following year.
The victim attended the development center for approximately four months and stopped her visits in May 2023. She resumed visiting in February of the following year and disclosed her repeated sexual assault to a counselor in March. Despite her ordeal, she asked the counselor not to inform her mother for fear of social stigma. At that time, the victim also stopped attending the coaching courses. The counselor informed the mother, but both initially refused to report the matter to the police.

According to the complaint, the 25-year-old defendant began messaging her frequently, gained her trust by showing compassion for her family situation, and even took her to two movies. “At the theater, the defendant touched her inappropriately and when she became uncomfortable, she expressed her displeasure to him,” the complaint states. During the counseling sessions, she revealed that the other two brothers had also sexually abused her on multiple occasions as part of their coaching courses. They have done it repeatedly. Her mother was initially hesitant to report the crime, but the counselor had to convince her. We recorded the girl’s statement. “The accused took her to the bedroom and showed inappropriate and explicit images and videos,” a police official said. The case was registered under relevant sections of molestation, rape, unnatural sex and criminal intimidation of the Indian Penal Code and Protection of Children from the Sexual Offenses Act (POCSO), 2012.

Open in the app