By: Express News Service Pune | September 9, 2025 08:17 PM IST 2 min readNCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar condemned the incident and demanded police action against the accused. (File photo)The Pune police arrested two members of the Trital Dhol Tasha troupe for alleged sexual harassment of a 20-year-old woman mediaperson and manhandling her colleague during the Ganesh immersion procession at Budhwar Chowk in Pune city on the evening of September 6. The two arrested suspects have been sent to judicial custody.The complainant, who works with a news portal in city, stated in her FIR that around 8pm on September 6 near Budhwar Chowk, some people from the Trital Dhol Tasha Pathak touched her inappropriately and also manhandled and verbally abused her male colleague (24) while they were covering the Ganpati immersion procession.The complainant initially filed an application at Faraskhana police station, demanding action against the culprits. Neelam Gorhe, Deputy Chairperson of the Maharashtra Legislative Council, and NCP (SP) MLA Rohit Pawar condemned the incident and demanded police action against the accused. Police booked the unidentified accused under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Sections 74 (assault or criminal force with intent to outrage modesty) and 75 (1) (sexual harassment) among others and initiated an investigation.Police said the suspects were identified after CCTV footage from the area was shown to the complainant, following which police arrested Chirag Kirad (24) and Anuj Navgire (34).A delegation of the Pune Union of Working Journalists (PUWJ) had held a meeting with Commissioner of Pune Police Amitesh Kumar, demanding action against the Dhol Tasha group members who sexually harassed the woman mediaperson.The PUWJ delegation had also told police about incidents of dhol tasha group members misbehaving with press photographers. The PUWJ delegation pointed out that despite having proper ID cards for reporting on the Ganesh immersion procession, some journalists and press photographers were roughed up by police personnel deployed at certain spots. Kumar assured that steps will be taken for the safety of media persons and that standard operation procedure (SOP) will be prepared for dhol tasha groups during the Ganesh immersion procession.Click here to join Express Pune WhatsApp channel and get a curated list of our stories© The Indian Express Pvt LtdTags:sexual harrassment