Goa: Woman molested, attacked on road; video goes viral

Yet another assault on a young woman in Goa's popular tourism-friendly coastal belt went viral on Thursday, after the victim, a Mumbai-based sculptor Durga Gawde, uploaded a video of the attack on social media.

Gawde was riding her scooter in North Goa's Saligao village, which lies close to the popular Calangute beach stretch when she had an altercation with a local who went on to assault her as passersby watched on.

The accused, Brian Franco was arrested and released after four days, but in a campaign which Gawde has started on social media, the victim says the accused was let off easily.

Gawde also said that the accused passed lewd remarks at her at the police station, where the duo later went after the assault, in front of police officials.

The assault occurred on the evening of May 31, after Gawde, who was riding a bike, cautioned Franco to not use a mobile phone while riding a two-wheeler because he had veered dangerously towards her.

The complaint filed at the Saligao police station states that Franco later stalked her, pushed her bike and assaulted her physically.

Speaking to DH, Santosh Desai, the inspector-in-charge of the Saligao police station, said that all norms were followed by his officials and the accused was in custody for four days.

"He was remanded to police custody for two days by the magistrate and then another two days after we resisted his release," Dessai said.

The accused has been booked under sections 354 (outraging modesty) and 354 d (stalking) 323 (causing hurt voluntarily), 504 (breach of peace) of the Indian Penal Code.

This is the second such assault on a young woman near Calangute after a viral video showed a Russian woman was stalked and assaulted by a native of Maharashtra last month.