(New Delhi) Eleven people, including several women, have been arrested after a young woman was abducted, gang-raped and then paraded in broad daylight in the streets of New Delhi, Indian police said on Friday.
Posted at 11:54 a.m.
The incident, which highlighted sexual violence in India, sparked much apprehension, including from the Delhi Women’s Commission and the city’s chief minister, who called it ‘shameful’ .
Footage circulating on social media that could not be verified shows the victim with his face blackened in ink and his hair cut short being pushed and heckled by other women, as cheered on by onlookers filming the scene.
She had refused the advances of a teenager
R. Sathiyasundaram, deputy police commissioner, said the attack, which took place in the capital’s eastern district of Shahdara on Wednesday, was the result of “previous animosity” between neighbours, without giving more details.
Media reported that it was a settling of accounts, because a 16-year-old boy, close to the executioners, killed himself by throwing himself under a train after the victim rejected his advances.
All those arrested, including two minors, are part of the same family. The videos clearly show that women were at the forefront of the violence.
The Deputy Commissioner of Police, R. Sathiyasundaram.
The victim told the police that she was abducted by members of this family, before being raped by several men and minors – encouraged by the women – then beaten with sticks and paraded in the street.
“We are reviewing the videos to identify the other people involved and there will be further arrests,” Chinmay Biswal, deputy commissioner of New Delhi police, told AFP.
The woman, aged 21 and mother of a two-year-old child, has been receiving psychological support since her attack, which allegedly took place just 50 meters from a police station, which was unoccupied at the time.
Indian laws have been toughened against rapists after the gang rape of a young woman, who died of her injuries, in 2012 in New Delhi. The case had shocked the whole world.
Indian police have long been accused of not doing enough to prevent violent crime and of not bringing sexual assault cases to court.