24-year-old woman suffers burns to her face, body after acid attack by 41-year-old stalker in Delhi's Bhajanpura

Police said the accused had been pursuing the 24-year-old for six months and became angry after she stopped responding to his calls and messages.

A 24-year-old woman suffered serious burn injuries to her face and other parts of her body after a 41-year-old man, who had been stalking her for the past six months, allegedly threw a corrosive liquid on her on a street near Ghonda Chowk in northeast Delhi’s Bhajanpura on Tuesday morning, police said. He was arrested later in the day.

The accused allegedly used sulphuric acid taken from a bus battery before fleeing the spot, police said. (Representational image)

The woman is being treated at the Guru Teg Bahadur (GTB) Hospital and is out of danger, but unfit to give her statement, police said. The suspect was enraged because the woman was avoiding him, and did not respond to his calls and messages, police said.

Woman attacked while on way to work in northeast Delhi

Deputy commissioner of police (northeast) Rahul Alwal said the Bhajanpura police station was informed about the incident at 7.10am on Tuesday, following which a PCR van admitted her to Jag Pravesh Chandra Hospital. “At the hospital, it was learnt that the 24-year-old, who lives as a tenant in Ghonda area, was on her way to Jafrabad, where she worked in a thread cutting factory... a man, whom she knows for six months, threw a diluted corrosive liquid on her and fled. The 41-year-old accused was later arrested from northeast Delhi,” said Alwal.

Immediately after the incident, the accused fled the crime scene, leaving behind the woman screaming in pain due to the severe injuries caused by the acid attack. He was booked for voluntarily causing grievous hurt by use of acid under Section 124(1) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS), a senior police officer said.

Police have withheld the name of the arrested man so as to not reveal the identity of the victim. The man developed a grudge against her because she was ignoring him, and suspected her of being involved with someone else.

Stalker allegedly targeted woman after seeing her with another man

“The alleged stalker’s anger was triggered a few days ago when he saw her riding a motorcycle with another man. He works as a painter at a bus workshop. He disclosed that he fetched sulphuric acid from the battery of a bus in a bottle and threw it on the woman,” the officer said.

Police said the woman earlier lived in the same building where the accused had been living for many years. He was married in 2010, but his wife died in 2015, and his son lives with his in-laws.