india

Updated: Mar 24, 2020 06:36 IST

The city police have registered a case and are investigating the identity of the man who allegedly spat on a woman from Manipur and heckled her in an incident of race discrimination linked with the global coronavirus outbreak.

Police said the incident took place on Sunday night in north-west Delhi’s Vijay Nagar, near Mukherjee Nagar, where an unidentified man on a scooter spat on the woman and shouted “Corona” before fleeing.

Police said that the incident took place when the 25-year-old woman was walking on a dark stretch in her neighbourhood. She was alone at the time of the incident, and could not see the man’s face or the registration number of the scooter he was riding, they added.

At around midnight on Sunday, a Twitter user posted two photographs of the woman (her face not visible) with spittle on her T-shirt and details of the alleged incident. The tweet was widely circulated, and the incident drew sharp criticism. Delhi chief minister Arvind Kejriwal tweeted on Monday: “Am shocked to read this. Delhi Police must find the culprit and take strict action. We need to be united as a nation, especially in our fight against Covid-19.”

Deputy commissioner of police (northwest) Vijayanta Arya said a case under Section 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC was registered.

“We are trying to nab the man as early as possible,” Arya said.

BJP Nagaland president Temjen Imna Along on Monday appealed to the party’s presidents across states to ensure racial profiling does not take place.

“I take this opportunity to appeal to my fellow BJP presidents to use your good offices to create awareness about the diversity of our people,” he wrote.

In a March 21 circular, the Union ministry of home affairs wrote to the chief secretaries of states asking them to ensure law enforcement agencies be sensitised.