Manama, July 2 (IANS): An Indian cold store employee in Bahrain has denied molesting a teenaged girl, a media report said.
The unnamed Indian, 28, has been accused of groping a 16-year-old Bahraini girl while she was reaching for an item on a shelf at a shop in Bahrain's capital Manama in May last year, Gulf Daily News reported Wednesday.
The defendant pleaded not guilty to molestation before Bahrain's High Criminal Court Tuesday.
The court, however, denied bail to the defendant and adjourned the trial till Sep 28.
The accused contended that he touched the girl accidentally, but the girl and her mother lodged a police complaint.
During the court proceedings, the man told the judges that the girl came into the store and asked for chips.
"I went to show her where they were and was putting water in the fridge," the report quoted the defendant as saying.
"I then accidentally elbowed her bottom because the shop is tiny and I did not mean to back up into her. She told me I slapped her bottom, but that did not happen," the defendant added.
The defendant's lawyer contended that the alleged victim was known for having a "bad reputation".
The lawyer said that the defendant could have accidentally bumped into her as the cold store was really small.