34-year-old arrested for stalking school girl despite police warning

Mumbai: A 34-year-old man from Bhayander has been arrested for allegedly stalking, harassing and threatening to abduct a school girl. His harassment had forced her family to move to a rented flat elsewhere.
Avinash Borges, who is unemployed and moves around on borrowed motorbikes, was arrested by Utan police last week. He has been sent to judicial custody after spending a night in police lockup.
Meanwhile, the teenager has stopped going to school and has been down with fever.Her parents told TOI that she is in a state of shock and does not want to step out. She refuses to eat and keeps crying.
According to API Sarojana Moklikar, Borges, a resident of Dongri village in Bhayander (West), used to stalk and intercept the 17-year-old girl on her way back home from school.
The harassment began this January when Borges first saw the girl and got obsessed with her. The girl, who was always accompanied by her classmates, did not respond. He would follow her on the bike and once forcibly gave her his cellphone number. She was in Class VIII then.
When she informed her parents about the harassment, her mother begged with Borges to leave the girl alone as she was scared to go to school and her studies were affected. But instead, Borges began to loiter around their residence.
In March, the parents approached Utan police, who called in Borges and issued a warning. But he was undeterred.
Fed up, in April, the family moved from their permanent home to a rented flat in the neighbouring Pali village.
Borges, though, soon managed to track them down. The parents were forced to accompany the girl to school and back. The school was also informed about him. According to the girl’s mother, Borges even began to follow their autorickshaws on his bike.
Last week, Borges allegedly intercepted the girl immediately after she stepped out of school, and threatened to abduct her if she rejected his proposal. The mother told TOI that Borges wanted to marry her daughter.
The girl, now in Class IX, told her parents about the incident and they once again approached the police.
API Moklikar said Borges is an unemployed bachelor. The girl’s schoolmates have given a statement about his harassment. Locals said even church authorities had intervened in the matter.
Police said they are investigating whether Borges has harassed other girls in the locality too. He has been booked under Indian Penal Code sections for molestation, stalking as well as sections of Protection of Children against Sexual Offences Act (POCSOA).