Mumbai molestation: NRI victims don’t want to visit India again

For NRI businessman Hiten Patel and his wife, their honeymoon night coinciding with New Year’s eve, which they decided to spend in Mumbai, turned out to be a nightmare. Hiten’s wife is one of the two women who was molested outside a hotel in Mumbai on the night of December 31.

The couple, along with cousins and friends who were with them when the incident occurred, have since returned to their native Phadvel village at Navsari district in Gujarat. Hiten’s father Jayesh Patel told The Indian Express that they were all in a state of shock and the women were absolutely traumatised. “Please leave us alone. It is an unfortunate incident that happened at that moment. The family is in shock. We don’t want to drag this any longer and don’t want any more media attention. The couples want to put the incident behind them as soon as possible and are eager to fly back to US,” said Jayesh. As an afterthought, he added: Hiten and his wife are in such a shock that they have decided not to visit India again. They had a bad experience. We don’t want to fall into more trouble and that is why we haven’t lodged any complaint. We have booked the tickets of our children and they will fly back to US in three days.” When asked if Hiten could take questions, Jayesh said: “Hiten and his wife are very unwell and a doctor is attending to them.”

Jayesh runs a hotel business in Texas City in US and stays in Medford. His son Hiten joined the business about eight years ago. Jayesh said he came to know of the incident on Tuesday morning when Hiten called up. Jayesh with his relatives and the girl’s father left for Mumbai and met the couple. Jayesh’s family comprising three children — two sons and a daughter — came to India a month ago.

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“Hiten, whose marriage ceremony concluded only a day before, wanted to celebrate his honeymoon in Mumbai. So we gave him permission. Hiten and his wife were accompanied by Kaushik and his wife. Both the couples left for Mumbai and stayed at Hotel Royal Garden in Juhu,” said Jayesh Patel.

Meanwhile, the villagers of Phadvel remained unaware of the incident. They came to know about it only after some mediapersons reached the village asking for Jayesh’s house. However, later the news spread in the entire village and many people were seen standing on the streets and discussing the incident.

Phadvel village Gram Mitra Ritesh Ahir said: “We had seen the news on television, but we were not aware that the couple is from our village. Even the newspapers had not carried the names of the victims. A few families of our village settled in US are visiting now but they keep to themselves.”