A woman in Pune was allegedly punched in the face by an elderly man after she did not allow him to overtake her scooter while travelling with her two children. The incident came to light when the woman, identified as Jerlyn D'Silva, a marketing head at a Pune-based luxury hotel, shared a video on Instagram recounting the events that occurred on Saturday on the Pashan-Baner Link Road.
In the video, D'Silva, who was seen with a bleeding nose, said the elderly man had been speeding behind them for nearly two kilometres. To make way for him, she moved her scooter to the left side of the road, but he then overtook her and stopped his car in front of her scooter.
"He got out of the car, punched me three to four times, and pulled my hair right in front of my kids." Dsilva claimed that when she attempted to take the car keys to prevent the man from fleeing, his wife, who was in the car, also assaulted her.
How safe is this city? Why are people behaving like maniacs? I had two kids with me; anything could have happened. A woman helped me," she added.
The man has been identified as 57-year-old Swapnil Kekre and his wife has been arrested by the Pune police and a case under relevant provisions of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the Motor Vehicles Act has been registered against him.
Meanwhile, Jerlyn's uncle Vishal told NDTV that he visited her at the hospital after learning about the incident.
"She told me that the man attacked her for no reason. The scooter didn't touch his car; he did this only to show his power," Vishal said.
He also noted that the man was accompanied by his wife, who did not intervene while he was assaulting Jerlyn.
"The children weren't physically harmed but were scared and screaming," he added.