Bhubaneswar, Aug. 30: The Mahila police last night arrested a 24-year-old youth from Old Town for trying to outrage the modesty of a minor, while she was alone in her house.

The police said when the accused Rakesh Swain, who is a neighbour of the victim, saw the 16-year-old girl was alone last evening, he forcibly entered her house and attempted to rape her. When the girl shouted for help, he slapped her. Hearing the girl scream, people gathered at the spot, but by then the accused had fled.

Later, the girl’s parents lodged a complaint with the Mahila police. The accused was then arrested from Old Town. The girl had sustained many injuries as the man had thrashed her as she was screaming for help. Her parents also rushed her to the hospital. The police said the accused was booked under Section 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) of the Indian Penal Code.

“He was forwarded to court in the evening,” said a police officer.

Later, Swain was sent to Jharapada special jail after his bail plea was rejected by a local court here.

Sources said the girl’s family was from Bengal and had been staying in Old Town for several years. Her father was a businessman and the girl was a Class X student at a private school in the city.

Police said the 24-year-old Swain is an unemployed youth. “He had no work and was seen roaming the area and stalking girls. It was when he saw that this girl was alone at home yesterday evening that he committed the crime,” said a police officer.

The incident has once again brought to the fore the issue of safety of women and girls in the capital. In June, an 18-year-old girl was gang-raped in a moving vehicle by two persons who were known to her. They had taken her into the car on the pretext of giving her a lift.

Both the accused are now lodged in Jharapada jail. In another incident, the Mahila police arrested a person who had allegedly killed his wife in collusion with his mother and sister on August 25 after torturing her. The accused, identified as Sankar Sahu, a businessman in Sriram Nagar of Nayapalli, was today sent to jail following rejection of his bail by a local court.

The police said that the accused had killed his wife, Arati Sahu, a mother of three children. Arati’s father Satya Narayan Sahu had lodged a complaint with the Mahila police yesterday against her daughter’s husband, mother-in-law and sister-in-law.

In his complaint, Satya Narayan had mentioned that his daughter had been tortured by her in-laws and that she had been killed by them on August 25.

“My wife had come to see the body and found blood oozing from her body. Her in-laws had told us that she was ill,” said Satya Narayan.

Neighbours of the woman too said that they knew the woman was being tortured by her in-laws. Following the complaint, the police arrested Sankar. Arati’s mother-in-law and sister-in-law, however, are absconding.