New Delhi: A 23-year-old woman was stabbed multiple times, allegedly by a man she is said to have been in a relationship with earlier, in New Delhi’s Saket area early Thursday. According to the victim’s mother, she is currently undergoing treatment at AIIMS.
A statement by Deputy Commissioner of Police (South District), Delhi Police, Chandan Choudhary, claimed initial investigation revealed that the two had been in a relationship for 2-2.5 years. The accused, identified by police as 27-year-old Gaurav Pal from Uttar Pradesh’s Ghaziabad, went to see the woman as she had allegedly been ignoring him for the past few days, said the statement.
The statement added that Pal allegedly attacked the woman as she sat in the cab she had booked. He has been apprehended by the police. A First Information Report (FIR) has been filed in this case under section 307 (attempt to murder) of the Indian Penal Code.
The victim’s mother has, however, alleged police inaction in the case.
“He has been harassing my daughter since she refused to marry him about 1-1/2 year back. We have made two-three complaints around eight to nine months back at Saket Police station and the last complaint was filed on 27 September,” she told ThePrint.
DCP Choudhary’s statement acknowledged that the victim had made a call to police on 10 September, complaining of harassment by the accused and that he was standing outside her residence in the Lado Sarai area. However, the statement claimed police officers who reached the area for inspection found that the dispute was over borrowed money. “The caller did not want any action on that day, so the call was filed,” claimed the statement.
The victim’s mother denied they didn’t seek action, claiming it was “untrue and devoid of logic”. “Why would the girl not want any action against him if she was harassed and tortured?” she asked.
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‘Grievously injured’
According to the victim’s mother, “My daughter was going for a meeting at around 6am and when she was boarding the taxi, this man came all of a sudden and entered the car through the other door and launched an attack on her. She has been grievously injured. She’s in the ICU of AIIMS Trauma Centre. She has been operated twice but she has not been responding.”
She added that the accused had been harassing her daughter, even though she had stopped talking to him about a year ago.
Talking about complaints made to police previously regarding the accused, the victim’s mother claimed the most recent one was made on 27 September, after the accused allegedly tried to strangle the victim earlier in the day. She claimed she was away when the landlord’s daughter, who had “rescued” the victim at the time, called her to inform her about the incident.
The mother alleged that the police did not even visit them after the alleged attack.
However, DCP Choudhary denied there was a police complaint on 27 September. “No incident reported on 27 September,” Choudhary told the media in response to a query regarding the mother’s allegation.
(Edited by Smriti Sinha)