Keonjhar: Police on Wednesday arrested four youths, who had allegedly molested a minor at a tourist spot and later uploaded the video on social media.

"The youths had allegedly molested the minor girl after beating up her male friend last week during a picnic trip to the Chakratirtha tourist spot in the Anandpur police station jurisdictions. After overpowering her friend, they had forcibly dragged her to a deserted spot in the forest area and molested her there. While carrying out the crime, they had also videographed the sequence of torture on their smartphones. Later, they had uploaded the video on social media and made it viral," said sub-divisional police officer Maheswar Sethy.

Following the complaint lodged by the girl, the cyber crime wing of district police found veracity of the allegation. After prima facie was found, the accused persons - Chota Rana, Mitu Hoe, Jaladhar Behera and Suresh Nayak - were arrested. They have confessed to have committed the crime under the influence of liquor.

The accused persons, booked under Indian Penal Code sections 354 (outraging the modesty of woman or girl), 292 (representation of person or any other object in obscene manner), 294 (obscene act), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (criminal intimidation), 509 (gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman), Protection of Children from Sexual Offence Act, 2012, and the Information Technology Act sections 67 and 67 (a), were later remanded in judicial custody.

As directed by state police headquarters, the district police are maintaining zero tolerance in cases of obscene photos or videos going viral on social media, the police said.

Elderly held

A 75-year-old man was arrested from Bangurusuni village in Keonjhar police limits for allegedly molesting a married woman. Sukadeb Munda was taken into custody following a complaint lodged by the victim. The accused confessed to the crime, police said. He attempted to rape her on Tuesday night in the absence of her family members, who were out of station. The accused has been booked under relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code was later remanded to judicial custody.