CR Park snatching: Victim left with fractured jawbone, stitches to face Delhi Police begin cracking down on bikers in effort to curb street crimes
Woman was in auto when two bike-borne men grabbed hold of her, dragged her out, snatched phone
NEWDELHI: A woman was injured while she tried protect her cellphone from two snatchers in south Delhi’s Chittaranjan Park (CR Park) on Sunday evening. The two men, on a motorcycle, sped away with her cellphone in a crowded street around 6pm.
The woman, Joymala Bagchi, 26-year-old journalist who works with the news agency ANI, fractured her jawbone and suffered multiple injuries to her face, elbow and other areas after she fell out of the moving auto-rickshaw while trying to save the cellphone from the snatchers. The snatchers also hurled abuse at the woman while fleeing.
The auto also toppled as she fell out of it. Bagchi receive multiple stitches on her chin and lips.
Deputy commissioner of police (south) Atul Kumar Thakur said a case of voluntarily causing hurt in committing robbery, under Section 394 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) has been registered at the CR Park police station.
Cases of snatching in the city have become increasingly violent. Over the past week, the city has seen at least three snatching incidents wherein brute force used by motorcycle-borne snatchers left the victims, mostly women, injured.
Last Tuesday, 54-year-old senior nursing officer of Lok Nayak hospital suffered injuries to her face and head after two men on a motorcycle tried to snatch her gold chain at a bus shelter near Delhi zoo.
On Friday, two people suffered injuries when they fell off their scooter while being chased by two motorcycle-borne snatchers on central Delhi’s Kasturba Gandhi Marg, adjoining Connaught Place. The suspects failed to snatch the woman bag’s in the first attempt. They continued chasing the couple even after picking up the gold chain that the woman threw at them to avoid being chased and attacked.
As per data on the Delhi Police website, 4,273 cases of snatching have been reported till August, which equates to 18 cases a day. Last year, during the same period, 4,410 snatching cases had been reported.
On being asked why snatchers are becoming violent, Delhi Police commissioner Amulya Patnaik said, “When a snatching is combined with any threat, injury, use of firearm or any other weapon then we register a case of robbery. If we see the overall trend of robbery in Delhi, this crime has seen a downward over the past two years. Cases do take place from time to time and we do crack those cases. We are serious in this case as well. Special teams will work under the close supervision of the deputy commissioner of police (south).”
Originally from Kolkata, Bagchi has been living in a rented accommodation in CR Park and has been working with the news agency for three or four years.
According to a statement issued by Bagchi, she was returning home in an auto-rickshaw around 6pm after shopping in CR Park. As the auto reached the intersection of Pocket K1 and Block B, two men riding a motorcycle neared the auto.
“I was using my cellphone when the rider held my right hand and the pillion rider grabbed my left hand. They pulled me out of the moving auto and in the process snatched my cellphone,” Bagchi said in the statement.
Bagchi fell out of the moving auto, which also toppled because of the sudden jerk. She started bleeding, after which some passersby came to her rescue. One of them informed the police control room. Bagchi was taken to a nearby hospital, from where she was referred to the AIIMS Trauma Centre.
According to Bagchi, she has learnt from the police that the place where the crime took place was not under any CCTV camera cover.
“As a journalist, I am appalled. Where are the CCTV cameras? It
was daylight when I was attacked. What if a speeding car hit me? Is this how unsafe the capital is? Today morning I got to know, that there is no CCTV footage of the incident and no lead so far. Two snatchers are so well versed with the city that they know which part has no CCTV camera (sic),” Bagchi’s statement read.
“Will justice ever come to us? If the ones who have the power to highlight the incident have no safety, imagine the plight of ordinary
citizens,” she added.
The snatching incident with a woman journalist also grabbed attention of the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW).
“So distressing. Female journalist pulled out of moving auto by mobile snatcher suffers multiple injury inc jaw fracture. Why no arrest by @Delhipolice in 24 hours? DCW will record statements of girl & take action. Delhi is really unsafe! Police has a lot to answer for! (Sic),” DCW chief Swati Maliwal tweeted. NEW DELHI: After analyses of reported street crimes — especially snatching and robbery — showed that most such crimes are committed by criminals riding motorcycles, the Delhi Police have started a crackdown on motorcycles that have riders and pillions in the age group where they may be active in crime.
This initiative has been taken in a bid to curb street crimes and nab criminals, who have become violent and use firearms or other weapons even at the slightest of resistance shown by victims to their snatching bid.
“Local police, traffic and patrol van personnel are checking the motorcycles. They conduct searches of bikers, verify their documents and antecedents. If bikers are found violating traffic norms, they are fined. Those found carrying illegal weapons are booked as per law,” said Mandeep Singh Randhawa, Delhi Police spokesperson.
Randhawa said reported crimes are analysed, mapped time-wise and area-wise on a daily basis by assistant commissioners of police (ACPS) of sub-divisions concerned. Possible escape routes in prone areas are ascertained and police pickets placed strategically.
“The timings of police pickets are changed to bring about an element of surprise and is dependent on the time interval in which maximum crimes have taken place in the recent past. The call made to the police control room regarding street crimes are also taken into account while designing the dynamic picketing system,” Randhawa added.