On the late night of Wednesday, January 18, Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) Chief Swati Maliwal was allegedly molested and dragged for 10-15 meters by a drunk driver opposite the Delhi AIIMS gate 2. Maliwal was dragged by the drunk driver after her hand got stuck in the car’s window. The driver was subsequently arrested by police.
According to police they received a PCR call at around 3:11 am, when the accused identified as Harish Chandra, a resident of Sangam Vihar, pulled up the window of his car as Maliwal was rebuking him for asking her to sit in his car. The caller told the police that a man inside a Baleno car dragged and molested a woman. The incident took place when Swati Maliwal was standing on a footpath along with her team.
(DCW chief)Swati Maliwal,dragged by car for 10-15 meters,at around 3.11 am opp AIIMS gate 2, after her hand got stuck in car’s window as driver, Harish Chandra, suddenly pulled up glass window while she was reprimanding him as he asked her to sit in his car: Delhi Police pic.twitter.com/fZh5GXhbIP
— ANI (@ANI) January 19, 2023
The police informed that the 47-year-old accused was in an inebriated state when he allegedly misbehaved with the DCW chief, adding that he has been detained on charges of molestation and voluntarily causing hurt.
“Our special patrolling vehicle had made the PCR call after the personnel spotted a lady outside the hospital,” said Chandan Chowdhary, DCP (South).
“Her name was Swati Maliwal. She said that a drunk driver of a Baleno pulled up next to her and asked her to get inside with bad intentions. He asked her to sit in the car, and when she declined, he left before returning and asking her again. She resisted once again and walked up to his side to scold him. Her hand got stuck as the car’s driver quickly rolled up the window. She was then dragged for ten to fifteen meters,” DCP Chaudhary added.
Swati Maliwal confirmed the incident through a post on Twitter. “Late last night I was inspecting the situation of women’s security in Delhi. A car driver molested me in an inebriated condition and when I caught hold of him, he locked my hand in the car window and dragged me. God saved my life. If the Chairperson of the Women’s Commission is not safe in Delhi, then imagine the situation,” Maliwal’s tweet in Hindi read.
कल देर रात मैं दिल्ली में महिला सुरक्षा के हालात Inspect कर रही थी। एक गाड़ी वाले ने नशे की हालत में मुझसे छेड़छाड़ की और जब मैंने उसे पकड़ा तो गाड़ी के शीशे में मेरा हाथ बंद कर मुझे घसीटा। भगवान ने जान बचाई। यदि दिल्ली में महिला आयोग की अध्यक्ष सुरक्षित नहीं, तो हाल सोच लीजिए।
— Swati Maliwal (@SwatiJaiHind) January 19, 2023
An FIR has been filed under the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 354 (criminal force to a woman with intent to outrage her modesty), and 509 (act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) as well as sections of the Motor Vehicle Act. Apart from arresting accused Harish Chandra, police also seized the car involved in the incident.
This comes after days after the Kanjhawala hit and drag case wherein a 20-year-old woman was hit by and dragged by a car for over 12 kilometers. On January 1, 20-year-old Anjali Singh died in an accident in Kanjhawala. The woman was on her way home on a scooty when a car hit her and dragged her for about 12 km. The police had arrested seven people, including five occupants of the car, in connection with the case.
