Delhi: Driver held for masturbating in front of 33-year-old German woman

Police arrested 32-year-old Tarun Kumar from Haryana after the doctorate scholar accused him of masturbating while she was walking her dog in a public park on Friday afternoon.

A 32-year-old driver has been arrested for allegedly masturbating in front of a foreign woman while she was taking her dog out for a walk in the posh Greater Kailash neighbourhood on Thursday afternoon.

Police arrested 32-year-old Tarun Kumar from Haryana after the doctorate scholar accused him of masturbating while she was walking her dog in a public park on Friday afternoon.

When the 33-year-old German national confronted the man, he tried to escape in his car. But the woman used her presence of mind to take a photo of the man’s car, an act that led to his arrest on Saturday.

The woman hails from Berlin in Germany and is pursuing her PhD from Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU). Having arrived in India last year, she had taken a rented accommodation in Greater Kailash 2.

The incident happened around 2.45 pm on Thursday. The woman was walking her dog in the neighbourhood, when she noticed a man staring at her. She paused for a moment, but continued walking her dog again.

“Suddenly, the man removed his trousers and began masturbating while staring at the woman, leaving her shocked,” said Romil Baaniya, deputy commissioner of police (south-east).

“But the woman decided not to let him get away easily. She immediately brought out her mobile phone and took photos of the car, ensuring the registration number was captured,” said the DCP.

Even as the man drove away, the woman dialled the police control room. A police team immediately arrived at the spot. “The woman provided us the photos she had taken and described the man’s features in detail,” said an investigator.

The inputs from the woman proved vital. Using the registration number, the police first tracked down the car’s original owner. The owner told police he had sold the car to a man who lived in the Hodal village in Haryana’s Palwal district.

A police team reached Hodal to track down the car’s new owner. He led them to the suspect — Tarun Kumar, his driver.

Tarun told police he had dropped off the car owner’s relative at a mall in south Delhi before heading to a park in Greater Kailash to while away his time.

Initially, he pleaded innocence claiming that he was urinating on the roadside, but allegedly broke down and confessed to the crime when confronted with the woman’s version.

He has been booked for crimes such as performing an obscene act and using a gesture intended to outrage the modesty of a woman. No previous criminal cases against him has been found, said police.

The DCP, meanwhile, used this case to call out to other women to “stand for themselves”. “One may see her (the German woman) as a victim in this case, but we see her as a hero of this story,” said Baaniya.