Manas Dasgupta
NEW DELHI, Jan 19: The Delhi Commission for Women Chairperson Swati Maliwal was allegedly molested and dragged for 10-20 metres by a drunk driver after her hand got stuck in his car’s window on the road outside AIIMS in south Delhi in the early hours of Thursday, the police said.
Ms Maliwal was allegedly accosted and harassed near the AIIMS hospital when she was out on the streets “for a reality check” on the safety of women in the national capital. The accused car driver has been arrested.
According to the police, a person, driving a Maruti Suzuki Baleno, approached her when she was standing near the hospital and asked her to sit in his car. When Ms. Maliwal tried to reprimand the man, he pulled his window glass up, resulting in Ms. Maliwal’s hand getting stuck in the window, South district DCP Chandan Chowdhary said, adding that Ms. Maliwal was then dragged for about 10-15 metres.
Ms. Maliwal, in a tweet, raised questions about women’s safety in the National Capital. “I was inspecting the state of women’s safety in Delhi last night. A drunk man in a car misbehaved with me and when I caught him, he stuck my hand in the window glass and dragged me. God saved my life,” she wrote in Hindi. “You can imagine the condition [of women’s safety] if the chairperson of the Women’s Commission is not safe in Delhi,” added Ms. Maliwal.
According to the police, they received a PCR call around 3.11 am about the incident. The caller told the police that a man inside a Baleno car made inappropriate gestures at a woman and dragged her on the road.
Chandan Chowdhary, DCP (South) said, “Our special patrolling vehicle had made the PCR call after the personnel spotted a lady outside the hospital. She was identified as Swati Maliwal… She mentioned that a person driving a Baleno (who was drunk) stopped near her and asked her to sit inside…with a bad intention. When she refused, he left but came back again and once again asked her to sit in the car. She again refused and went near his side to reprimand him. The car driver quickly rolled up the window and her hand got stuck… She was dragged for 10-15 metres”.
At 3.12 am, the control room broadcasted the message about the incident and started tracing the car. At 3.15 am, the PCR team asked police staff from Kotla Mubarakpur to find the car. Around 3.20 am, the teams reached the spot. ACP also came to the spot. At 3.34 am, police said they found the car and caught the accused.
The police said they took immediate action on Maliwal’s statement. “We have taken a written complaint from her. The driver of the vehicle and complainant was sent for medical examination. The accused has been apprehended,” added the DCP. The police said Maliwal was with her team when the incident took place.
An FIR has been registered under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 354 (criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), and 509 (act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 185 of the Motor Vehicle Act, the DCP said. Harish Chandra, who was produced before Link Metropolitan Magistrate Akansha Garg on Thursday and was sent to the judicial custody till February 2.
Advocate Satyendra Kumar Dhaka, who appeared for the accused at Saket district court, said, “We have moved a bail application. We told the judge that one section is non-bailable, but the maximum punishment may extend to seven years. As per the Arnesh Kumar guidelines, we are entitled to bail. We will raise these arguments before the court.”
Reacting to the incident, the Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal questioned the law and order situation in the national capital. In a tweet in Hindi, he said the “confidence of goons has increased so much that even the women’s commission chairman is not safe.” Slamming the Delhi L-G VK Saxena, he added: “LG Sahib is requested to leave politics for a few days and focus on law and order. We will fully cooperate with them.”