Jehanabad: The Jehanabad police on Thursday swung into action and arrested one of the three youths involved in sexually harassing and assaulting a 15-year-old female athlete.

The youth, identified as Nitish Kumar (22), was produced before a railway judicial court, which remanded him in judicial custody for two weeks.

Though Jehanabad superintendent of police (SP) Sayali Dhurath denied the report of eve-teasing, the victim claimed the youth attacked her with ulterior motives. “The youth caught me from behind by my collar and brutally assaulted me causing injuries on my back and the lower abdomen,” she said over phone on Thursday.

Narrating the incident, she said the youth in his 20s caught her when she was proceeding towards her home after alighting from the Gaya-Patna Passenger MEMU (mainline electrical multiple unit) train at Jehanabad railway station around 7.30pm on Wednesday. Before she could understand what happened, he started beating her in full public view, she said.

As she was alone she didn’t react for quite some time. “When nobody came forward to rescue me, I decided to retaliate,” she said, adding that the youth disappeared from the scene.

He was accompanied by two other associates, who apprehending trouble, fled the spot.

The incident occurred when she was returning home after taking part in an athlete-training programme at Gurua in neighbouring Gaya district. “My other colleagues had alighted from the train at the previous stations,” she added.

She was later admitted to the Jehanabad Sadar hospital.