Delhi: 22-yr-old man held for attack on women journalist

New Delhi : With the arrest of a 22-year-oldman, said to be infatuated with journalist Aparna Kalra (45), Delhi Police on Saturday claimed to have solved the case of a brutal attack on her at a park in northwest Delhi.

The accused, Sanjay (22), is a school dropout. He used to work in a nail polish factory, police said, adding that he had five siblings and his father owned a 'chaat' cart.

He was arrested on Saturday from the Sawan Park slums. "Was highly concerned about the assault case on our media friend Ms Kalra. I congratulate NW Dist team for quickly solving this blind case (sic)," tweeted Delhi Police Commissioner Amulya Patnaik.

The incident occurred in the evening of April 5 when Kalra had gone for her routine walk to Picnic Hut, a park at northwest Delhi's Ashok Vihar, which is usually crowded at that time of the day.

The accused was identified after questioning various people, including the regular visitors to the park, said DCP (Northwest) Milind Mahadeo Dumbere.

Police began rounding up the rogue elements, drug addicts and those who had previous criminal records in the area. Some of those detained told the police about the presence of the accused at the park at the time of the incident. 

"He confessed that he had seen Kalra at the park around 8-10 times and was infatuated with her. He accosted Kalra to talk to him, with a view to befriend her, but in vain. In a fit of rage, he attacked her with a stone," said another officer.

Sources claimed that the accused had consumed liquor before coming to the park on that day with an intention to sexually assault her. As Kalra did not pay heed to him, he attacked her with a stone.

As Kalra raised an alarm, the accused fled. He was neither aware of the fate of the journalist nor of the subsequent uproar the incident had created, police said. Meanwhile, the police said Kalra was recovering and showing signs of improvement.

The incident has brought the issue of women's safety back to focus in the national capital and Delhi Police has come under attack from various quarters, including the Delhi Commission For Women, for not doing enough to curb crimes against women.

"Sad, shameful and horrific. Delhi is very unsafe for women. She is critical, suffered grave injury. Its pathetic (sic)," tweeted DCW chief Swati Maliwal. However, the police sought to assuage these concerns.

"Women's safety is our utmost priority. With our newly launched Prahari scheme, under which the security guards will be trained by the police to act as informers, we aim to address the issue more effectively," said DCP (Crime) Madhur Verma, who is also the PRO of Delhi Police.