KOLKATA: A couple, along with their two children, were on Monday evening reportedly threatened, harassed and assaulted and the woman was even allegedly molested by auto drivers outside South City Mall when the family protested against them for refusing to ply in their designated route. This is the second time in less than six months that auto drivers on this route—Jadavpur-Taratala—attacked passengers and one of the accused outside South City, Manoj, was a repeat offender. He had earlier been arrested and jailed for behaving rudely with passengers.It took cops—some of them senior officers—from one traffic guard and two police stations rescue the family from the clutches of the auto drivers, who even gheraoed the police officers. Some drivers even tried to block Anwar Shah Road. A case has been registered but no arrest has yet been made.The victims were residents of Bishalaksmitala near Budge Budge, police said. It was around 6.15pm that the family came out of the Anwar Shah Road mall and started looking for an auto to Behala Taratala. But one after the other, the auto drivers reportedly kept refusing them, one of them even claiming to have a flat tyre. All these autos were of the Jadavpur-Taratala route. “After multiple refusals, the woman tried to take the photo of the numberplate of an offending vehicle on her mobile. This apparently infuriated the drivers, who first threatened the family and then tried to snatch the phone away. They hit the man and pulled at his wife so hard they injured her. Two traffic sergeants from the Jadavpur traffic guard were the first to react, followed by two officers and a constable,” claimed the police.Even as the argument between the family and the auto drivers escalated, the five cops from the Jadavpur traffic guard arrived, one of them a woman officer, who reached a little later. The auto drivers, some 40 of them, seemed so brazen about their ways that they literally closed in on the cops who tried to protect the family. On seeing that they were outnumbered by the bully auto drivers, these cops dialled for help from the nearby Jadavpur and Charu Market police stations. Besides personnel from these police stations, a team arrived from the Lake police station and they together finally managed to take the family to the safety of the police station.The auto drivers did not merely stop at intimidating and attacking the family and gheraoing the cops. They even tried to park their vehicles on the road near South City, looking to block a significant section of the Tollygunge-bound flank apparently as a mark of protest, but the cops thwarted their attempt.“A case has been registered at the Lake police station under sections 354 (molestation), 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation), 509 (insulting the modesty of a woman) and 114 (abettor present when offence is committed) of the IPC. No one has been arrested yet. There is no CCTV camera covering the exact spot where the incident took place, but we are identifying all the accused and they will be arrested soon,” said an investigating officer. The auto drivers have also lodged a complaint, claiming it was the husband who attacked them first.The police pointed out that drivers Manoj, Kalu and Mohd Idris were among those involved in the fracas. “Manoj has had a case lodged against him by cops from the Jadavpur traffic guard for misbehaving with passengers. He was even sent to jail for it. We suspect it was him and the fellow drivers who instigated the fight,” said an investigating officer.The family later alleged that cops from the Lake police station arrived almost 30 minutes later, allowing the auto drivers to pile up pressure. “Even after there was a commotion on the road, the reaction time from the cops left a lot to be desired,” claimed the woman.

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