NEW DELHI: Even as the outrage over the molestation in a mob molesting a teenager in Assam is yet to die down, the capital threw up another episode of depravity: a 20-year-old entered the women 's ward of Safdarjung hospital in the dead of the night on Saturday and tried to rape a pregnant woman, reportedly an Army officer's wife after leading her out of the ward on the pretext of an examination.

To her luck, a doctor on the rounds raised alarm and the man was handed over to the police. It remains to be answered, though, how a stranger was allowed to walk into one of the city's top government hospitalsin the dead of the night, endangering patients' safety.

Sources said the woman, who hails from Kolkata and lives in Defence Colony, is the wife of a senior Army officer. Police denied the claim.

DCP (south) Chhaya Sharma said the accused, Praveen Kumar , who works as an assistant at a private lab in Yusuf Sarai, had tried to digitally rape the patient. The Safdarjung police registered a case of attempt to rape and arrested him.

Kumar, police said, entered the hospital around 1.30am on Saturday, saying he had come to hand over a test report to a patient admitted in the female ward. Surprisingly, nobody contested his claim and he was allowed to simply walk into the secure complex. The nine-month pregnant victim, who was admitted on Friday, was caught off-guard in the late hours. He led her to a secluded part of the ward, claiming a doctor wanted to examine her just then.

"Praveen claimed to have come to hand over the victim's test report, but led her away from the ward. He tried to insert his finger in her genitals, when she resisted and shouted for help," said a senior investigating officer.

"Just then, one of the hospital's doctors arrived and saw that the accused was harassing the patient. The victim too complained to the doctor." The doctor alerted the victim's family and police.

The incident raises questions about the safety of women in one of the most secure complexes of Delhi, that has earned the shameful tag of being the country's rape capital. In 2011, the city reported 489 cases of rape, including the brutal incidents in Dhaula Kuan rape and Mongolpuri, as against 459 in 2010. The figures for 2006 was 609 followed by a drop to 581 next year while in 2008 it further dipped to 466. Molestation cases in the capital too showed an increase last year to 585 from the 532 registered in 2010. While 2008 had witnessed 597 cases, there were 835 such incidents in 2007.