Toll staffer refuses to let car pass, gets slapped repeatedly by driver

Gurgaon: A woman

toll

operator was assaulted, allegedly by a motorist, on Thursday after she refused to give him free passage at Kherki Daula. This is the second such incident in less than three weeks at the toll plaza. The woman, who is 22 years old, is from Agra and lives in a hostel in Kherki Daula.

An official at the toll plaza said she was posted at the booth number 23 when the motorist, who is yet to be identified, left his white Honda City (HR26 BV 1917) in the toll lane even though there was a vehicular queue, walked up to her and demanded that the boom barrier be lifted to give him free passage. To this, the operator said he would have to produce his identification documents to prove that he was on the exempted list of motorists.

Enraged at this, the accused lifted the boom barrier and let other three cars — a Scorpio, an i20 and an Audi — that were ahead of his car in the queue leave without paying the toll fee. He then went back to his car and tried to flee, but a security guard pulled the barrier back to prevent him from leaving the toll plaza. The accused, who by then got furious, went back to the toll counter, had an altercation with the woman and slapped her repeatedly. He, according to the woman toll operator, also hurled abuses at her.

“He said he would kidnap and defame me. He wanted to enter the booth to thrash me. When the guards didn’t let him enter the booth, he slapped and pushed me through the window,” she said.

A complaint was filed at the Kherki Daula police station under sections 323 (voluntarily causing hurt), 354 (assault or criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty), 452 (house-trespass after preparation for hurt, assault or wrongful restraint), 506 (criminal intimidation), 509 (word, gesture or act intended to insult the modesty of a woman) and 511 (attempting to commit offences punishable with imprisonment for life or other imprisonment) on Thursday.

“The car is registered in the name of Kuldeep Yadav from Sikohpur village. We are trying to find out if the owner was driving the car or was it someone else,” said TC Rao, managing director, Skylark Securitas Private Limited.

This is the second such incident that happened at Kherki Daula toll plaza in less than three weeks. Another woman operator was assaulted by a few men on November 18. The men also allegedly molested the toll operator after she had asked them to pay the toll fee before crossing the booth. The gang stepped out of their SUV and vandalised toll booths after molesting her, according to the complainant.