BHOPAL: Public anger exploded on three suspects arrested on Friday for molesting a 12-year-old girl in TT Nagar . Women and young girls slapped them on the road as they were being paraded by police.Back-to-back incidents of sexual crime in the past week - including five molestations in the last 24 hours in Bhopal - have set residents' nerves on the edge. Police, too, sense the simmering anger and took the unprecedented step of parading habitual offenders on the streets to shame them. Twenty such anti-socials were paraded in Hanumanganj on Friday, 25 in Nishatpura and 32 had been paraded in Gautam Nagar on Thursday.The TT Nagar molestation had shocked the locality on Thursday and the sight of the three suspects - Saleem Khan said Javed Khan (19), Monu Pawar (20) and Surendra (21) - in police custody on Friday led to a surge of anger. Women and college girls passing by walked up to them, looked them in the eyes and slapped them, again and again. Some punched them in the face. Police did nothing to stop the beating.Investigation officer ASI Saleem Khan said the trio lives in slums in front of the market complex. They allegedly entered a residential campus on Thursday and started harassing children playing there. One of them allegedly grabbed the 12-year-old’s hand and asked for a kiss. She screamed for help and her mother rushed to the spot. The trio ran away before locals could give chase.The family went to police, who promptly registered a case under POCSO and IPC. The accused were tracked down on Friday morning, and paraded handcuffed from TT Nagar police station to Rangmahal Talkies square and back. They were made to hold their ears and do squats at Rangmahal Talkies square.Asked about the beating of the suspects, ASP Dharamveer Yadav said: “It was an instinctive reaction from the people, who were enraged by the molestation of a child. But police ensured the safety of the accused and brought them back to police station.”The survivor’s father, who was not among those who beat up the suspects, said: “They targeted my daughter around 7pm on Thursday. When a boy on our campus resisted, the trio threatened to kidnap him and his sister. Then they started making bets that the one who gets a kiss from the girl will get money. Accused Monu grabbed my daughter’s hand and asked her to give him a kiss. He took her photo on his mobile. When my daughter raised an alarm, her mother rushed to help. But Monu called Javed and Surendra, who threatened to stab her to death. Undeterred, she kept shouting for help, forcing them to flee. They climbed our colony’s wall and escaped.”There is a security guard at the gates but on Thursday a new guard was on duty and he allowed the accused to enter, mistaking them for colony residents, he said. “We are concerned about the safety of children and reported the matter to TT Nagar police. They informed us on Friday that the accused are in custody. I am fully satisfied with the promptness police showed in the case. I requested police to bring the accused to our colony to remove their fear from the minds of children, but police denied,” the father added. All three are in jail custody.

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