Plainclothes cops deployed for sting operation have arrested as many as 70 persons for sexually harassing female passengers on public transport over a period of six weeks. Metropolitan Police Office, in association with community service centers and transport entrepreneurs, had launched a sting operation named ‘Safety Pin Campaign’ to discourage sexual harassment on public transport on August 2. According to MPO, 47 out of 70 suspects arrested during the period are facing charges under the Some Public (Crime and Punishment) Act, 1970, which criminalizes an insult women in a public place. Others were released with a warning. The suspects are aged between 18 and 30 years. A three-member team, also comprising a woman cop or a member of the general public in civvies, conducts deceptive operation designed to catch persons making unwanted sexual advances towards female passengers on public transport, mainly buses. Backed by a special mobile van, police also use a woman as a commuter on a public bus. Anyone found sexually harassing female passengers is arrested outright for legal action, MPO said. It is the first operation of this kind to curb sexual harassment in public buses. Many women and teenagers using public transport often face different forms of sexual harassment, but most cases go unreported.