Two weeks after a 45-year-old woman was allegedly thrashed, harassed and abused by a priest inside Raghunath Mandir in south-east Delhi’s Kalkaji, police could not arrest the accused yet. Police said the woman had immediately lodged a complaint with the police after the incident and a case was registered against the accused at the Chittaranjan Park police station.
Police said the victim stays in Kalkaji and is a housewife. She used to visit the temple regularly to offer her prayers and services. On the day of the incident she had visited the temple around 9 pm when the incident took place.
According to a senior police official, the accused has been identified as Surendra Kumar Pandey, who is a priest at the temple.
“Kumar was allegedly having a verbal fight with another priest identified as Gyan Chand Arora, when the victim, who was in the temple at the moment intervened and asked the reason for the fight,” said the police official.
The accused priest started hurling obscene abuses at the woman and then tore the religious garland she was wearing and threw it away.
“Kumar then allegedly thrashed the victim hard. She immediately started crying and came out of the temple and called the police. A police team was immediately sent to the spot but the priest had fled away by then,” said the police official.
Based on the allegations of the victim, a First Information Report was registered under section 354(A) (sexual harassment and punishment for sexual harassment), 509 (Word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of women) and 323 (punishment for voluntarily causing hurt) of the Indian Penal Code has been registered at the Chittaranjan Park police station. “Teams have been formed to nab the priest. Further investigations in the matter is underway,” said police.