DCW chief molestation case: Accused 'preyed on another woman' on Jan 17, says Maliwal

On Thursday, Maliwal was reportedly molested by a drunk man outside the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) Delhi, when she was out on the streets, to asses the safety of women in the capital.

Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chief Swati Maliwal on Friday alleged that the man who made lewd gestures at her, and dragged her for 10-15 metres by his car, after her hand was stuck in his car window, "preyed on another woman" in a similar way on January 17. "The person who harassed me has also preyed on other women. One woman reported on the 181 helpline that on January 17 this man had repeatedly circled around her with his car on Lodhi Road, asking her to get in. I am thankful that I got him caught. I appeal to everyone to not be afraid but raise your voice," Maliwal said in a tweet in Hindi.

Delhi Commission for Women Chairperson Swati Maliwal. (ANI Photo) (Amit Sharma)

The women's panel chief also shared a video of the woman narrating her ordeal of being harassed by the man, “In today's newspaper I saw that the chairperson of Delhi Commission (for Women) had been harassed and there was a picture of the perpetrator. I would like to tell you that this same person did the same thing to me on Tuesday at Lodhi Colony around 7 to 7.30 pm. He said the same thing to me - 'Do you want a lift?' and kept taking a U-turn to come back”, the woman said in the video.

"I ignored him the first time he asked... But after that, when he kept on returning, I looked at him properly and kept thinking of getting out of the place as soon as possible but since there were no buses around, I had to face some problems," she added.

On Thursday, Maliwal was reportedly molested by a drunk man outside the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS) Delhi, when she was out on the streets, to asses the safety of women in the capital. The driver, 47-year-old Harish Chandra, has been arrested.

Maliwal said she stepped out on Wednesday night to assess how safe the city was for women, especially after the Kanjhawala incident in which a 20-year-old woman was dragged by a car for at least 14km, leading to her death. The DCW chief visited several places near Kanjhawala, Munirka, Mundka and Hauz Khas, inspecting the deployment of police and safety measures at bus stops. “I wanted to see what a woman standing alone at a bus stop has to face at night,” she had said.

When she reached the area near AIIMS and was standing at a bus stop on the Ring Road opposite the hospital, a car approached her, Maliwal said. The man, driving a white Baleno, rolled down the car’s window and asked her to sit in the car, the DCW chief added.