A salesman who twice groped a teenaged girl while she was shopping at a hypermarket in Bur Dubai, has been jailed for three months.

The 41-year-old Indian salesman walked in front his 16-year-old countrywoman while she was near a shelf and intentionally bumped into her from the front side, apologised and continued walking forward in December.

The teenager left the hypermarket and as she stood outside in a state of confusion, she saw the man standing behind a glass partition and smiling at her.

She rushed back into the hypermarket and scolded the 41-year-old, who ran away once she told him that she would report the matter to the police.

She told her father about the incident and the matter was reported to police.

The Dubai Court of First Instance convicted the 41-year-old of breaching the girl’s privacy and molesting her. The defendant earlier pleaded not guilty and claimed that he bumped into the girl by mistake.

Presiding judge Mohammad Jamal ordered the defendant to be deported following the completion of his jail term.

The 16-year-old said the incident happened around 6.30pm while she was shopping at the hypermarket.

“At first, the man ran into me and his hands touched my top but he apologised, I did not bother myself since I thought it happened by mistake. Fifteen minutes later, he popped out of nowhere and suddenly groped my top for three seconds without moving his hands away. This time he looked me straight in the face, smiled, said sorry and walked away. I felt offended and very angry and I walked out of the shop soon after. However, as I was standing on the pavement and saw him smiling at me from behind the glass, I told myself that he had done it on purpose. I rushed back into the shop and scolded him. I told him in a loud voice that he does not have any right to touch any girl and that I will call the police. But he ran away when he heard me mention that,” the girl testified.

Sunday’s ruling remains subject to appeal within 15 days.

Source: gulfnews.com