‘Is this less than rape?’: Mother of youth stripped, beaten in Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar seeks justice

NEW DELHI: A dispute over a gym operating from a residential property in east Delhi’s Laxmi Nagar escalated into a violent assault in which a man was beaten, his wife allegedly molested and their son stripped naked and assaulted on the street, with the youth’s mother asking whether such public humiliation was “less than rape”.

Recounting the Jan 2 incident, the mother said to news agency ANI,"This property is in our name. Can't we stand on our own property? That day, my husband and I were standing outside the house. Just then, a boy, Shubham Yadav, came and grabbed my husband. When I tried to save my husband, a man named Pintu Yadav came. He stopped his Thar vehicle so fast that my husband narrowly escaped death. After that, he started beating my husband. His son started beating me. Vikas Yadav, Pintu Yadav, and Shubham Yadav started beating my husband."




She added, "Before I could save my husband, they threw him to the ground near a tree and pushed me away. They kicked me in the stomach, they pulled my hair. They humiliated me so much. I ran to the police station for help. By the time these people had entered the house and dragged my son away. They stripped him of all his clothes. He was beaten naked. People were watching. My son kept pleading with folded hands. Is this less than a rape?"

According to the complaint, by the time the woman rushed to the police station to seek help, the attackers had entered the house, dragged her son out onto the street, stripped him naked and beat him in public as bystanders watched. “My son kept pleading with folded hands,” she told reporters.

Police said the incident was captured on CCTV cameras, which have been seized and are being analysed to establish the sequence of events. The footage shows the youth being assaulted by multiple men on the road and the attack stopping only after police reached the spot.

The complainant alleged that the assault followed a dispute with the gym’s caretaker over control of the business. He claimed he was punched and kicked, his clothes were torn and his wife was molested during the confrontation.

A case has been registered at Laxmi Nagar police station under multiple sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, including offences related to voluntarily causing hurt, criminal trespass, wrongful restraint, criminal intimidation and assault to outrage the modesty of a woman. Police said the main accused has been arrested, while three others are absconding.