In a growing list of stalker attacks in the state, a 23-year-old man in Chennai attacked a 17-year-old college student for spurning his advances. On Tuesday, the attacker Solomon Raja stopped Anju* on her way back home from college in Ayanavaram and tried slitting her throat with a blade. Fighting him back with her bare hands, Anju fended off the attack, injuring her right hand in the process.

Speaking to TNM, one investigating officer says, “He claims to have known her from a young age. When she told him to back off, he couldn’t handle it. He repeatedly threatened her saying he will commit suicide if she doesn’t go out with him.”

The police say that the girl had made it clear to him that she wanted nothing to do with him. Although the two had known each other in the past, on Tuesday, Anju once again told the man to stop following her.

“This enraged him. He said if I don’t get to be with you, no one else should either. And then he tried to slit her throat with a blade. He is telling us that they had known each other from childhood and that she is his friend. He doesn’t understand why she cut him off so suddenly,” says the officer.

Anju received treatment for her wounds at a private hospital in the city on Tuesday. She was later discharged. The attacker Solomon Raja has been booked for attempt to murder and harassment. He has been remanded in judicial custody.

The latest attack comes over a month after Aswini, a BCom student at the Meenakshi Academy of Higher Education and Research in Chennai was stabbed to death by her stalker. The case had shocked the city as it not only took place in broad daylight but also points to the failure of the police for not acting on previous complaints by Aswini.

In 2016, Swathi, a Chennai techie, who was waiting at the Nungambakkam railway station was hacked to death by her stalker, Ramkumar. While Ramkumar later committed suicide in prison, the daylight murder in a public place had sent shockwaves across the city, putting into focus the safety of women in Chennai.