19-year-old motorcyclist’s ear bitten off, spat out in Delhi road rage

The victim, 19-year-old undergraduate student Ajay Thakur, had to undergo plastic surgery to restore the ear, which had been spat on the road by the scooter rider, police said. Thakur may require further surgeries if the initial replanting procedure does not hold.

A minor accident escalated into a heated argument and then into a shocking episode of road rage, with a scooter rider biting off the ear of a motorcyclist in northwest Delhi, police said on Monday.

The victim said that on August 12, he was out on his Hero Passion motorcycle to drop a friend at Shakurpur. On the way, the motorcycle brushed against a scooter. Later that evening, at around 7.30pm when he was returning home on the same route, the two scooter riders spotted him and intercepted his motorcycle. (AFP/Picture for representation)

The incident took place in Shakurpur locality on the evening of August 12.

The victim, 19-year-old undergraduate student Ajay Thakur, had to undergo plastic surgery to restore the ear, which had been spat on the road by the scooter rider, police said. Thakur may require further surgeries if the initial replanting procedure does not hold.

A case of causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means (Indian Penal Code Section 324) and wrongful restraint (IPC Section 341) was registered against unknown persons at the Subhash Place police station on Thursday, after Thakur was discharged from hospital. Police are yet to nab the attacker as CCTVs near the crime scene failed to capture the scooter’s registration number.

Thakur said that, on August 12, he was out on his Hero Passion motorcycle to drop a friend at Shakurpur. “On the way, my motorcycle brushed against a scooter. There were two men on the scooter, who began abusing me, but passersby intervened,” he said.

“They told me that I had damaged their scooter and began abusing me. When I pointed out that there was no sign of damage, they started thrashing me. One of them used the scooter key as a knuckle to repeatedly punch me on the face and head,” Thakur said.

When Thakur tried to fight back, one of them held his arms while another held his face and bit off a part of his right ear. “As I stood there, shocked and bleeding, the man spat the ear on the road and they rode away. I couldn’t note down the scooter’s registration number, but I can recognise their faces,” he said.

Thakur said it took him and a friend -- whom he had called after the incident -- a while to find the piece of ear on the dusty road. “I hurried to a nearby hospital, which referred me to Dr Ram Manohar Lohia (RML) Hospital,” he added.

Deputy commissioner of police (north-west) Aslam Khan said a search was on for the suspects. If arrested and convicted, the attackers could be jailed for up to three years.

The frequency of road rage incidents in the city had prompted a Delhi University student to approach the high court earlier this year with a request to take “preventive steps” against the menace.