Woman sub-inspector harassed, beaten up in south Delhi

NEW DELHI: Forget ordinary citizens, even the cops are not safe from harassment on Delhi's streets.

A Delhi Police sub-inspector was molested and thrashed in full public view by half a dozen men on Tuesday night in Sangam Vihar, South Delhi, after she objected to lewd comments passed by two men on a bike. The accused hit the woman cop with sticks and broke her cell phone so that she could not call for help.

She was later taken to Batra Hospital. The police have arrested three men and launched a manhunt for the remaining three.

A case of attempt to commit culpable homicide (308), molestation (354) and 509 (outraging a woman's modesty) has been registered against the accused, identified as Naveen Kumar, Rohit and Ravi. All three are history-Sheeters.

The incident took place around 9.30pm when the SI was heading home in a bus. She is posted at a south Delhi police station and lives in Sangam Vihar with her family. She was walking home after alighting from the bus when two men on a bike passed comments at her.

When she objected, they hurled abuses and misbehaved with her. The rider was later identified as Ravi, a source said.

Enraged, the SI slapped the rider and threatened to call the police, at which the hooligans took her cell phone and threw it away. The pillion rider then allegedly got off the bike and manhandled the SI even as the rider, Ravi, called his associates.

A neighbor spotted the SI being attacked and rushed to her rescue. But even as he tried to save her, Ravi returned with his friends who were now carrying sticks. The neighbour meanwhile dialed 100 and informed the Police Control Room. He then ran to the SI's home to bring her family members.

The SI screamed for help and ran towards a paan shop, then inside a PCO booth but the assailants dragged her out and thrashed her.

By the time the PCR van arrived, only three accused could be arrested; the rest managed to flee, police said. However, a source said that the accused were nabbed much later by a team of cops from the south Delhi police station where the woman cop works. They also reportedly "interrogated" the trio before handing them over to the Sangam Vihar police. The police have denied this though.

This is the third incident this year when a policewoman has become a victim of harassment. On January 6, a woman constable was molested in a DTC bus by a 39-year-old man in east Delhi's Jagatpuri. Three days later, again, a 25-year-old woman home guard was molested inside a low-floor DTC bus in Madhu Vihar, east Delhi.