Police recover CCTV footage in DCW chief Swati Maliwal dragging case

New Delhi: 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.

Maliwal is seen in the video, which has been widely circulated on social media, waiting on the pavement when a car arrives and the driver tells her to get in. To this, Maliwal can be heard saying, "Sorry, I can't hear you...What?" When the driver keeps insisting, the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) chairperson is heard asking, "Where will you drop me? I want to go home. My relative are coming..." She then moves aside and the car is seen leaving.

Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal molested, 'dragged' by car for 10-15 meters.pic.twitter.com/AmEqOMiUQV

— Ahmed Khabeer احمد خبیر (@AhmedKhabeer_) January 20, 2023

After sometime, the same vehicle is seen returning after taking a U-turn and stops in front of Maliwal. At this point, she asks the driver, "You were the same person who told me that you will drop me right? Where will you drop me? I had told you right I have my relatives and they are coming." When he doesn't get her words and allegedly makes lewd gestures at her, Maliwal is seen reprimanding him and again questions him where he would drop her.

"You have come for the second time. I have been repeatedly telling you that I don't want to get dropped anywhere," Maliwal can be heard saying in the video.

The video also showed that when she caught hold of the driver, he rolled up the window on her hand and dragged her along. She could also be heard screaming in the video.

The DCW chief said she was inspecting the state of women's security in Delhi along with her team in wake of the Kanjhawla hit-and-drag incident in which a 20-year-old woman was dragged to death while trapped under a car in the national capital.

Maliwal's team that was with her during the inspection was stationed at some distance. A 47-year-old man living in south Delhi's Sangam Vihar has been arrested following the incident which took place in the early hours of Thursday.

Deputy Commissioner of Police (South) Chandan Chowdhary said a patrol vehicle spotted her on the pavement opposite AIIMS around 3.05 am and enquired if she was in distress. After Maliwal narrated her ordeal, the police tracked the car down and arrested its driver, identified as Harish Chandra.

Chowdhary said a case was registered under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 341 (wrongful restraint), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the Indian Penal Code and Section 185 of the Motor Vehicles Act at Kotla Mubarak Pur based on a complaint by Maliwal.