DCW chief: Person who harassed me also preyed on other women

New Delhi: Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal on Friday alleged that the man accused of harassing her outside AIIMS had also “preyed on another woman” in a similar fashion earlier this month.

Maliwal alleged that she was molested by a drunk man while on an inspection at night and dragged for 10-15 metres by his car outside AIIMS with her hand stuck in the vehicle’s window. The accused, a 47-year-old man, has been arrested.

“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.

Maliwal 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.

“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,” the woman said in the video.

Footage showing Maliwal being allegedly harassed by the accused inebriated man and dragged by his car for 10-15 metres with her hand stuck in the vehicle window has been recovered, police said.

Meanwhile, footage showing DCW chief Swati Maliwal being allegedly molested by an inebriated man and dragged by his car for 10-15 metres with her hand stuck in the vehicle window has been recovered, police said on Friday.

Accused AAP member, sting done to defame Delhi Police: BJP

The BJP on Friday raised questions over DCW chief Swati Maliwal’s molestation claims, alleging that the person she accused is an AAP member and her “drama” was part of a conspiracy which has now been “exposed”.

Several BJP leaders hit out at Maliwal, an Aam Aadmi Party appointee.

An immediate reaction was not available from the AAP on the issue. BJP leader Shazia Ilmi tweeted that Maliwal’s “drama” has been exposed.

Former DCW chief Barkha Shukla Singh said by indulging in such drama, Maliwal should not weaken women.

Delhi BJP working president Virendra Sachdeva said Harish Chandra Suryavanshi, who was accused of harassing Maliwal, is actually a prominent activist of the Aam Aadmi Party in Sangam Vihar.

Sachdeva released a photo in which the accused is seen campaigning with AAP MLA Prakash Jarwal.

Sachdeva said with the revelation of the photo and Suryavanshi’s background, “it has become clear that the incident was a conspiracy of AAP to defame Delhi internationally by showing the city as an unsafe city for women”.