‘Something Like Anjali Would’ve…’: DCW Chief Swati Maliwal After Being Dragged by 'Drunk' Driver

Swati Maliwal, chief of Delhi Commission for Women, was dragged by a ‘Baleno’ car on the intervening night of Wednesday and Thursday near New Delhi’s AIIMS. Maliwal said that she was dragged for a few metres after the accused “locked her hand in the car window” as she tried to “catch hold of the driver”.

“Late last night I was inspecting the situation of women’s security in Delhi when a driver of a car molested me in a drunken state. God saved life. If the Chairperson of the Women’s Commission is not safe in Delhi, then imagine the situation,” she tweeted.

Narrating her ordeal to News18, Maliwal said that she is extremely traumatized and shaken. “The man made lewd comments. He closed the window and my hand got stuck. He then dragged me, and I was really scared. There was no police patrol,” she said.

Speaking to ANI later, Maliwal said if her team wouldn’t have intervened at the time, then she would have met a similar fate as Anjali Singh, the 20-year-old who was dragged for 12km by a Baleno on New Year’s Eve. “He dragged me for 10-15 metres. Then a man from my team and I screamed and he left me. If he had not left me then, something like Anjali (Singh) would’ve happened to me….,” ANI quoted her as saying.

NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma said that she is immediately writing to the Delhi police commissioner and will also speak to Maliwal. “I am taking this very seriously. There is no safety,” she added.

“The accused asked the complainant to sit in his car. When she refused, the driver went but returned after making a U-turn from the service lane. He once again asked her to sit in the car. Maliwal refused again and went near the driver’s window to reprimand him. The car driver quickly rolled up the window, and her hand got stuck. She was dragged for some 10 to 50 metres,” a police official said, citing the written complaint.

The driver of the vehicle, identified as Harish Chandra, and the complainant were sent for medical examination, police said. Police said that the accused is currently unemployed and he previously worked with a telecom brand and has no past criminal antecedents.

The shocking incident comes over a fortnight after a 20-year-old was dragged 13 km under the car of five drunk men.

In Delhi’s horrific New Year hit-and-drag case, the drunk men had hit Anjali Singh’s scooty and her body rolled under their car and got tangled in the undercarriage. They drove for 12 km, trying to dislodge it.

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