German national claims rape, assault by auto driver

New Delhi: A 19-year-old German national has complained to the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) via an e-mail that she was raped and assaulted by an auto-driver in the city on December 14, an official statement said on Saturday.

The Commission received an e-mail from the victim on February 5 informing about the incident. However, the victim was not in Delhi and came to the DCW on February 19.
The victim told the Commission that she had walked out of her hotel room at night and got lost in the alleyways. "She asked for directions from an auto driver. Instead of dropping her safely to her hotel room, the auto driver assaulted and raped her in the dark," the DCW statement said.

"She somehow managed to get away and ran into another street when the auto driver found her again, this time with a group of men sitting inside the auto. They all ran towards her and started molesting her when she bit the tongue of one of them and he yelled - causing enough commotion for them to get afraid lest someone (should) hear them, and run away," read the statement narrating the victim's complaint.

"Devastated, she wandered towards the main road and sat down on the pavement. A young man who was returning home from work found her in that state and without asking her about what happened to her.

He dropped her back to her hotel. The victim was too scared to go to the police because she was in a foreign land, very young and not sure of what to do," it added.

"Since the time she wrote to the Commission, she was not in Delhi. The Commission asked her to come to Delhi and encouraged her to file a complaint with police.

"The victim came to the Commission on the evening of February 19 and the Commission immediately counselled her and helped her report her case to the Police February 20 after which the police facilitated her medical examination on the same day," it added.

DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal had issued a notice to the DCP (Central) for non-filling of an FIR, it was finally filed on February 24 night at Prasad Nagar police station.