Four students of a Salt Lake hotel management institute have been arrested for allegedly harassing a 21-year-old airline employee when she was walking past their adda in the heart of the Sector V tech hub on Saturday evening.

"The youths seemed drunk. They were singing songs and making lewd gestures. We (she and a male friend) ignored them but as we walked past them, one of them said to the other: ' Chal, gaari mein utha lete hain, raat bhar maje karenge (Let's pick her up in the car, we can have fun all night)," the woman said in her complaint with the Electronic Complex police station.

The alleged incident occurred near the Indismart Hotel in EP Block of Sector V, off the Webel crossing, around 8pm. The woman said that the youths, all in their twenties, were seated on a bench in front of a shut tea stall and targeted her the moment they saw her.

When she and her friend protested, the accused allegedly abused them along with two other acquaintances who had tried to intervene. "Luckily for us, a police vehicle was passing by and it stopped when I waved for help," the woman, a resident of Entally, said.

The cops herded the accused into the car and took them to the Electronic Complex police station despite their protesting that the woman was "making a mountain out of a molehill".

Based on the woman's written complaint, the four youths were later arrested and booked under Section 509 of the Indian Penal Code (uttering any word or making any gesture intended to insult the modesty of a woman). They were out on bail on Sunday but, if proved guilty, are liable to be imprisoned for a maximum of three years.

"The youths said they were chatting among themselves and that their comments weren't in reference to the complainant," said a senior officer of the Electronic Complex police station.

Sector V regulars said the police presence in the area where the incident occurred was disproportionate to the increase in population and commercial activity there. The tech hub is a crowd-puller not only in terms of professionals who work till late and take public transport back home but also people who visit the area to eat out.

Since many bars, restaurants and roadside shops remain open till late in the night, the presence of potential threats has apparently increased too.

"When I return home from work, I find youths seated on motorbikes and they often make remarks about any woman walking past them. These youths do not seem to be professionals working here. At times, it gets really scary and that's why I always ask a male colleague to accompany me till the bus stop," said Arijita Dasgupta, who works for an IT firm in Sector V.

The Electronic Complex police station is in Sector V but there is no outpost or a manned police kiosk in most of the lanes.

Sources in the Bidhannagar police commissionerate said manpower was a problem but contested the perception that policing was lax.

"Recognising the change in the mix of people in Sector V, the police outpost has been replaced with a full-fledged police station," an officer said. "Yes, we are short of people, but senior officers monitor what's happening in the township with 13 CCTV cameras at locations like College More, Webel More, Videocon Junction and some other places."