On her way to a library, a 22-year-old woman was stabbed multiple times by a man, 30, in full public view following an altercation on Friday afternoon in Northwest Delhi’s Mukherjee Nagar, police said.

According to Delhi Police officers, the woman, who is preparing for government recruitment exams, was headed to the library, where she studied, from her home in Northeast Delhi’s Jafrabad when the accused man, identified as Aman, a scrap dealer, confronted her and stabbed her multiple times on her left arm and waist, causing her three stab wounds, which police claimed were superficial and minor.

The woman was then shifted to a nearby dispensary by the staff members of the paying guest accommodation, opposite to which the incident took place. She was later shifted to a hospital from where she received first-aid and was discharged on the same day.

According to officers, the accused and the woman did not know each other. Police said it was likely that the attack was a fallout of a spontaneous exchange between them as they crossed paths, adding the man felt “insulted” by the woman’s remarks after their altercation. A senior officer said that the accused snatched a knife from a vegetable vendor, who was sitting nearby. “After the victim and the man allegedly had a verbal scuffle over some issue, the accused went a little distance away, came back with a knife and began stabbing her… The accused said that the woman called him names which angered him,” said the officer. The attack took place inside a service lane, which comprises a chain of PG accommodations.

In a purported video of the incident, the man could be seen stabbing the woman multiple times as she is sitting and trying to save herself from the assault. After attacking the woman, the accused is seen fleeing away only to return and stab her again. As a few passersby stopped by to intervene, the man could be seen fleeing the spot. A case under Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections pertaining to attempt to murder and assault has been lodged and the accused arrested, said police.

An eyewitness, a staffer of the PG opposite which the incident took place, said: “We were inside when we heard loud screams of a woman… When we headed out, we saw her crouching on the ground with her hands covering her wounds… When we asked her if she knew her attacker, she said she has never met him and did not know why he attacked her.”

“We see the accused, Aman, on a regular basis as he passes by the area frequently, he doesn’t interact with anyone… I don’t know whether he had any verbal scuffle with the woman…,” said another eyewitness.

The accused used to live in Christian Colony, a few kilometres from the incident spot, in a rented accommodation. His neighbour Ajay said: “He rarely spoke to anyone ever since he moved here in 2021… He changed two houses within this locality in the last year. He… worked as a scrap dealer.”