A 17-year-old girl was stabbed multiple times by a man in public near the Kirbi Place bus stop in Delhi Cantonment on Sunday, the police said. The victim, who will turn 18 on Tuesday, is currently on ventilator support, an officer said.

The attacker, identified as Amit, 20, later injured himself with the same knife and is also undergoing treatment, the officer said. A case under Section 109(1) (attempt to murder) of the BNS has been registered against Amit at the Delhi Cantonment police station and investigation is under progress, he added.

The matter was reported to the police around 9.30 p.m. on Sunday by a passerby. A police team reached the spot and found that the victim had suffered serious injuries on her neck and the left side of her abdomen, the officer said, adding that the knife was recovered from the spot.

On inquiry, it was revealed that Amit and the victim had been friends since one year and had a fallout over some issue.

Meanwhile, the victim’s mother, who works as a house help, said that her daughter was taking coaching classes and had filled out some application forms to secure a job and help help augment the family income. “Little did we know that my child would be struggling to breathe on her 18th birthday,” she said.