Delhi’s notoriety for being a city that is unsafe for women continues. Even in well-to-do neighbourhoods, usually the haunt of the affluent and elite Dehliites, sexual assault of women is very much a regular affair. In a spine-chilling incident, a Twitter user from Delhi recounted an incident that took place in the early hours of July 6.

The incident is from Delhi’s Hauz Khas Village, a posh locality in Delhi that is lined with restaurants and watering holes. Here’s her tale:

Hey. So I'm going to describe what happened last night at Hauz Khas Village (HKV). As we were leaving, we had to walk from HKV to Aurobindo [Market]. There was a car full of men heading towards HKV. A girl wearing shorts, accompanied by a very drunk guy was walking out. The car takes a [u-turn]. They stop, two guys get out and you hear “Bas gaadi mein daalo (put her in the car)”, they start following the girl. She's busy dealing with a drunken friend.

Three to four guys in car and two guys on foot start closing in on her. They see a crowd (us) and the guys get back in [their] car. They wait a while and then go ahead. Two guys get out again this time they go straight for the girl, and the car is ready so they can grab and toss her in. They surround her.

This is when I run up to the car and ask them what's up. They say, “Nothing, go away”. I say, “You are stalking this girl, f*ck off”. They laugh. They say, “Isko drop kar denge kahin. Zyada bolegi toh tereko bhi kahin le jayenge (we will drop her somewhere. If you don’t shut your mouth, we’ll take you somewhere as well).” I threaten to call cops. They don't seem fazed. At this point [a friend] catches up with me and I loudly ask him to call cops. They see I have guys with me, and get worried. They signal.

Photo: Strollup.in

No, they didn't expect anyone to try and stop them. They thought I was just another unaccompanied woman. They got scared because I confronted [them]. The two guys get back into the car. They still lurk around and I keep shouting, they finally leave when I try to take video.

These guys spent a while calculating how best to spot a girl and had a fully planned method of how to abduct. They weren't drunk. They looked like they knew what they were doing. HKV is a place where lots of women come and get drunk especially on Wednesdays because [it is] "ladies nights". These were guys who very methodically had a plan to abduct and rape a woman. They weren't doing it on impulse. They came here for this.

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The Twitter user did not manage to catch the entire number-plate of the car, but she did remember a part of it. The car was an old silver sedan (likely a Honda). The car’s plate read “DL xxxx 7226”. According to her, the incident took place between 12:55am and 1:30am, in the area between the Hauz Khas Village barrier and the cut for Green Park.

While this incident has gotten immediate media attention, and even that of the police, the fact remains that Delhi Police’s presence and quick work on the social media translates to nothing when they are not actually present on ground. In February 2017, a 24-year-old student was raped in Hauz Khas Village. The police, after the incident, had assured more vigilance in the area, but sadly this incident is proof enough that nothing much has changed.

Will this incident result in a couple of days of police harassment for the bars and its customers in Hauz Khas Village, as cops try to shake down innocent people to save face? Or is this going to result in actual improved security, something which the people have been asking for a very long time now?

(Editor's note: We had earlier included a tweet from the person who recounted the incident. We have subsequently removed the tweet-thread at her request.)

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