A middle-aged woman who jumped off the third floor of her house at Punjabi Bagh in West Delhi after a spat with her husband survived as she was ‘caught’ and saved by alert police personnel who broke her fall with a huge blanket. The police managed to save the woman but a Sub-Inspector of the Police Control Room van was injured in the incident.
According to the police, the victim--Mahima Bhandari (46)--is a housewife and lives with her two sons. She separated from her husband Deepak, who is a property dealer, around 12-13 years ago. Deepak lives in South Delhi’s Sainik Farms.
“On Friday, Deepak had gone to Punjabi Bagh to talk to Mahima but she was not ready to have a conversation with her husband and refused to open the main gate,” a police officer said. At that time, Mahima’s 16-year-old son and a domestic help were also at home. Deepak asked the other two to open the gate, but Mahima was against it.
Due to the commotion, neighbours informed the police and soon a PCR van and the local police reached the spot. “Mahima threatened to jump off the third floor if Deepak did not back-off,” the officer added.
And then to everyone’s horror, in a fit of rage, she jumped off the balcony of her third floor house at around 5-30 p.m. She was, however, lucky as the staff of the PCR van and some locals--anticipating her move–stood below with a blanker spread out. “They managed to catch and save her life,” the officer said.
The staff of the PCR van have been identified as Sub-Inspector Sukhbir Singh and constables Devi Sahay and Ajay Singh. Sukhbir sustained a minor injury on his shoulder, but did not require medical aid.
Both Mahima and Deepak have told the police that they separated due to domestic violence and Deepak has been trying to negotiate for reunion. Mahima’s 21-year-old elder son is an engineer and works with a private company in Gurgaon.
