Man arrested for attacking woman scribe at ad event

Mumbai Mirror | Sep 14, 2015

By Lievanta Millar

The NM Joshi Marg police have arrested a 30-year-old man for allegedly beating up a woman journalist outside Palladium Mall in Lower Parel, late on Friday. The scribe, who was there to cover an advertising awards event, later discovered that the accused, Rambabu Ramprakash Godia, had mistaken her for a woman who had slapped him at the event after he had allegedly misbehaved with her.

The victim, 30, left the event at the Palladium ballroom around 11:30 pm. "I was heading to the taxi stand with two friends when the man approached from behind and hit me on my back. He kept saying I had slapped him. I had never seen the man before. He continued to assault me till the mall security was called in," she told Mirror.

The victim in her FIR alleged the man continued to kick her even as he was being overpowered by the mall security personnel. He was taken to security room where he said he was at the same event. The victim's friends claim they called the police after the organisers failed to respond. A case under IPC section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) was registered against Godia on Saturday.

The accused, a garment shop employee, told the guards that he had procured a complimentary pass to the event.

It was only on Sunday that the scribe realised why she had been assaulted. "I had posted the incident's details and photos of the man on Facebook. On Sunday, a friend called to say another woman who attended the Palladium Mall event wanted to speak to me. She said she had slapped the man when he misbehaved with her, and that he may have mistaken me for her," she added.

Pratap Bose, chairman, The Advertising Club of Bombay, said, "I had left the event early. When I came to know of the incident, I called her friend who assured me she wasn't hurt. As for the accused gaining entry, we questioned the event managers and told them it shouldn't happen again."

Brial Tellis, whose event management firm Fountainhead organised the event, said their employee, Santosh Bagodi, who had distributed the complimentary passes, has been asked to resign. "We are working on tracking how the accused got the pass," Tellis said. DCP (Zone-III) S Jayakumar said the accused has been arrested and remanded in judicial custody till September 25.