A 27-year-old woman was followed for two kilometres and beaten by a car driver on Saturday in a case of apparent road rage. The incident took place while the victim was riding a two wheeler with two children along the Baner-Pashan Road in Pune. The police have since arrested the driver and a woman who had been present in the car at the time of the attack.
The victim had been enroute to Baner for lunch with her children when she first encountered the abusive driver at Mahabaleshwar Chowk. A video of the incident — posted by the woman to demand justice — has since gone viral on social media.
“A man was trying to block me, he was not letting me go to the left or right. When the signal was red and our vehicles came parallel, I tried to have a dialogue with him. He started abusing me and his overall body language was very aggressive. When the signal got green, I took a left turn and I could hear him speeding his vehicle...He blocks me, comes out of his vehicle grabs me by my t-shirt and punches me straight,” Jerlyn Dsilva recalled after the ordeal.
The ‘old man’ allegedly punched her three to four times in the face while his wife stood by without intervening. Dsilva claimed the other woman had also assaulted her as she attempted to take the car keys to prevent the man from fleeing. Dsilva was taken to a hospital and the police were informed after bystanders intervened amid the altercation.
The case has been registered at Chaturshrangi Police Station and further investigations remain underway. Officials indicated that the 57-year-old man and his wife have been booked under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Motor Vehicles Act.
(With inputs from agencies)
