A crowd of people on the compound of the collectorate on Tuesday. At night, the place is deserted. (Surajit Roy)

Malda, Aug. 12: District magistrate Chittaranjan Das last night stumbled upon a group of youths trying to molest a teenager in front of the gate of the collectorate while the girl was returning home from a fair.

Das had just come out of the office and was heading back to his bungalow in his car when he heard the girl screaming for help. It was around 9pm.

“She was surrounded by a few youths, who fled when we chased them. However, my security guard managed to catch one of them,” the DM said.

The youth, later identified as Dilip Rajak, has been arrested and booked under Section 354 of the IPC (outraging a woman’s modesty).

The girl told the DM that she was on her way home with her sister and brother-in-law after a trip to a trade fair. She alleged that some youths started misbehaving with her and tried to molest her in a desolate stretch in front of the collectorate.

“There was a power cut in the area when we were passing through. Suddenly, a group of at least five youths appeared on the road and started dragging my sister-in-law. My wife and I tried to resist them, but they outnumbered us,” said the brother-in-law, who has a mobile phone shop at Rathbari.

He said some employees from the collectorate had come to their rescue before the DM himself arrived.

Afterwards, the additional district superintendent of police, Sujit Sarkar, and a team of officers headed by the inspector-in-charge of Englishbazar police station, Prasad Pradhan, went to the spot.

The officers took the girl to the Englishbazar police station where she lodged a written complaint. She was sent home in a police vehicle. “Rajak was put under arrest on the basis of the girl’s complaint. He was produced in court today,” said the inspector-in-charge.

However, Rajak has not revealed the names of his associates, said the police.

“I was shocked to see such an incident in front of my office. I worry about the safety and security of young girls in other parts of the town,” the DM said.

Residents of the area complained that they often saw some unknown youths on the collectorate compound and around the Town Hall after dusk.

Additional district magistrate Purnachandra Seat said police patrolling in the area needed to be intensified after evening. “I will discuss the matter with the district police chief once he joins office. He is now out of town,” Seat added.