Police Officer Arrested For Allegedly Groping Underage School Girl On Train

A police officer has been arrested for allegedly groping an underage school girl on a train in Kanagawa Prefecture, Japan on Friday, June 10.

On Friday, June 10, the suspect, identified as 36-year-old Sumihiko Hirota, an assistant police inspector, reportedly fondled a 17-year-old school girl’s left breast while aboard a train traveling between Hon-Atsugi and Ebina stations on the Odakyu line, Japan, Japan Today reported.

When Hirota and the minor girl both got off the train at Ebina Station, the teen grabbed Hirota's arm and yelled out saying “he groped me!” As onlookers gathered and rushed to the girl's aid, Hirota fled the scene. However, another police officer who happened to be on the train platform chased Hirota and caught him while he was trying to go up an escalator. He was immediately arrested on suspicion of abuse and harassment.

Hirota has reportedly denied the sexual assault charges raised against him.

In a similar but unrelated incident, an Indian police constable has been accused of abducting a woman, before raping and blackmailing her with legal action after he caught her without a face mask in a public area, Latin Times reported.

The incident reportedly happened in Palsana, Gujarat, India in 2020. The accused police constable Naresh Kapadiya has been booked at the Palsana Police Station of Surat, Gujarat for allegedly raping the 33-year-old victim.

The survivor said that she was on her way to buy milk in Palsana during the 2020 lockdown when Kapadiya allegedly abducted her. She further revealed that the cop threatened her with police action as she was not wearing a face mask at the time of their encounter. However, instead of taking the woman to a police station, Kapadiya reportedly brought her to remote Navsari Road where he proceeded to strip and thrash her. He then took inappropriate photographs of the woman and allegedly raped her.

After the ordeal, the constable used the photographs to blackmail the woman and continued raping her multiple times over the next few months.

A preliminary investigation revealed that Kapadiya was earlier posted at the Palsana Police Station but was transferred to the Umarpada Police Station in January when a video of him fighting with the victim went viral on social media.

A police officer acquainted with the case reportedly said that Kapadiya and the victim might have had an affair and that the complaints they lodged against each other were the result of disputes in their relationship. The convoluted case is still under investigation.