NEW DELHI: A 23-year-old man was arrested for allegedly making obscene gestures at a woman at Mandi House metro station, police said on Thursday. The incident came to light after a girl posted on ‘X’, formerly Twitter, about the harrowing incident which alerted the police.
The accused has been identified as Shivam Sharma. He has done B. Pharma and was presently working in a marketing department of a pharmaceutical company, they said. According to a senior Delhi Police official, the woman said that she had taken the metro from Tughlakabad station and de-boarded at Mandi House metro station.
“While she was waiting for her friend at platform no.1, the accused stood at platform no. 2 and started making objectionable act/gesture at her,” DCP (Metro) G Ram Gopal Naik said. The complainant got scared and approached the CISF Staff at the Mandi House metro station. By the time the CISF staff reached, the accused took the metro and fled away. The woman then posted the incident on social media prompting the cops to take its cognizance.
Accordingly, an FIR under sections 294 (obscene acts and songs) and 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) of the IPC was registered at the Pragati Maidan Metro, Delhi. The police scanned the CCTV footage of Mandi House Metro Station through which the accused was identified.
“During analysis of the CCTV footage, the victim identified the accused. The photographs of the accused were also developed. It was found that he de-boarded the metro train at Nangli metro station. Later, it was found that the accused was residing in Rajiv Nagar, Begumpur,” DCP Metro said.
The cops then deployed local informers in the Nangli area while parallelly another team kept scanning the CCTV cameras in and around the metro station. Through cameras, the identity of the accused was revealed as Shivam Sharma, a resident of Rajiv Nagar, Begum pur, Delhi from where he was later nabbed by the police. Delhi Metro Rail Corporation (DMRC) spokesperson Anuj Dayal asked the passengers to conduct themselves responsibly while travelling on the metro.
Past incidents
April 4, 2023
A woman was sexually harassed in a lift at Jasola station of the Delhi Metro. It was alleged that the accused flashed his private parts and touched the woman inappropriately inside the metro lift.
July 7, 2022
A woman who went to the MCD office for work noticed that a man was following her. While boarding the train, the accused allegedly then groped her breasts and threatened her to not disclose the incident to others, failing which he will kill her.
June 2, 2022
A woman was sexually harassed by a man at Delhi Metro’s yellow line Jor Bagh station. The woman alleged that a man flashed his genitals while trying to show her a file.