New Delhi: Standing in front of a tea stall in the upscale neighbourhood of Nehru Enclave, the two women were sipping tea when they heard a group of men catcall and make racist comments. Agitated by their behaviour, one of the women took out her phone to record the incident. Within minutes, at least four men gathered around her and allegedly molested her, she told The Print.
Speaking to ThePrint a senior Delhi Police officer said that after the incident, the police checked the CCTVs in the vicinity and identified eight witnesses. “We have identified four accused and detained one,” said the officer.
The incident happened in the early hours of 10 May, as the city’s nightlife patrons were leaving the clubs in Nehru Enclave. “Around 6:10 am we were seeing people off to their cabs and then sipping tea, when this all started,” said one of the women, a 23-year-old migrant from Bihar who works as a nightclub promoter.
Speaking to The Print, she said that having worked in nightclubs for the past six years, she was used to men catcalling and being inappropriate. “I was not paying them attention until they incessantly started abusing my friend and me. As soon as I started recording the incident, they came up to, gathered around me, slapped me, shoved me to the ground and molested me.”
Meanwhile, a few others towered over the other woman and started to threaten her, she said. “They told us that if we report this issue or tell anyone about it, they would not let us live or work here.” The 25-year-old is a migrant from Assam who works for a fashion designer in the Capital and has been living in Delhi for the past five years.
While the two women do not know the perpetrators’ names, one of them said that they have been regulars in the area who have catcalled and harassed multiple women in the past. “I do not know them by name but can recognise them if they are brought before me. These men have been harassing me and other women who walk out of the nightclubs. Until Sunday morning they had been texting me on Instagram,” she said.
The duo further alleged that when they reached the Kalkaji police station the officers present did not take their matter seriously. “They did not pay any attention and did not even register a complaint until we contacted the North East Cell,” said one of the women.
Following the incident the police filed an FIR under section 115 (2) (voluntarily causing hurt), 74 (outraging a woman’s modesty), 126 (2) (wrongful restraint), 351 (2) (criminal intimidation), 79 (word, gesture or act that enrages a woman’s modesty), 3(5) (common intention).
The Delhi Police took both the women to AIIMS where they were treated and their medico-legal test was conducted. “The women had marks on their bodies and their clothes were torn,” said a police officer who did not wish to be named.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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