Elderly motorist hits woman on scooter with 2 children, leaving her ‘bleeding’

Pune News: An incident of road rage broke out in Maharashtra’s Pune on Saturday, where a woman riding a scooter with her two children was allegedly slapped in the face by an elderly motorist who tried to overtake her. The incident took place on the Pashan-Baner Link Road, where the elderly man in a car — apparently angry over not being given space to overtake — pulled the victim’s hair and hit her twice so hard that her nose started bleeding profusely.

The woman has been identified as Jerlyn D’Silva, a digital content creator. D’Silva posted a video on social media describing her ordeal. In the now viral video, she claimed that the elderly motorist was nearly 2km behind her and was desperately trying to overtake her.

“This man was driving almost 2km behind me and I was driving on the left to give him the right of way when suddenly he drove in front, turned left and blocked my two-wheeler. He got out of his car furiously and hit me twice, so hard that I immediately started bleeding and pulled my hair,” she said in the video, with blood around her nose and mouth.

Asked about the law and order situation in the city, D’Silva said, “I had two children, he didn’t care. How safe is this city? Why are people behaving like maniacs? I had two children with me, kuch bhi ho sakta tha (anything could have happened)… A woman helped me.”

She also demanded justice and called for a severe punishment for the accused. “I don’t know where we are going,” she said.

Pune police have now filed a case against the man, identified as Swapnil Kekr.

An official from Chaturshringi police station told news agency IANS that the victim has been rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment, while the car driver has been detained pending formal disposal of the complaint.

The incident caused a stir on social media, exactly two months after a 17-year-old minor was involved in a suspected drunk-driving collision with his Porsche, killing two people.

On Tuesday, the city was once again shocked by a drunk driving incident. A politician’s son, Saurabh Bandu Gaikwad, rammed his SUV into a poultry truck on the Mundhwa-Manjari Road, seriously injuring the driver and his assistant.

In another case, Saurabh, the son of former Nationalist Congress Party (SP) municipal councillor Bandu Gaikwad, had fled in his Tata Harrier SUV, but was later tracked down and arrested by the police.