Sister of gang rape victim who was paraded through Delhi reveals she witnessed horrific ordeal
‘No one helped, they only CHEERED’: Sister of gang rape victim whose face was blackened before being paraded through streets of Delhi reveals she witnessed horrific ordeal and saw many neighbours among angry mob
WARNING DISTRESSING CONTENTThe sister of a gang rape victim in Delhi, India has spoken out about the horrorThe married mother-of-one, 20, was assaulted and paraded through the streetsThe alleged attackers are said to be relatives of a teenage boy who killed himself after she rejected his advances
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The teenage sister of a 20-year-old mother who was last month gang-raped by a mob after she rejected the advances of a teenage boy has today opened up about the harrowing experience.
Speaking to CNN, the 18-year-old said her married sister was targeted by the relatives of a boy who took his own life in November after she rejected him.
To the teenage girl’s horror, footage captured the neighbourhood joining in a hateful mob and cheering on as her sister, who head was shaved with soot on her face, was paraded through the streets.
WARNING DISTRESSING CONTENT
A 20-year-old mother-of-one (centre, in pink) was gang raped and tortured before she was dragged through a crowd in Delhi, India
People were seen filming the attack on their phones as she was struck and jeered at
At the time it was reported four men abducted the woman, but the sister said she cannot recall how many there were, just that there were ‘a lot of them’.
At least twelve people, including nine women and two minors, were arrested after the terrifying incident.
She said: ‘I couldn’t believe no one in the neighbourhood spoke up or tried to help, they only cheered.’
Police arrived 15 minutes after the victim’s sister was able to borrow a mobile phone to call for help.
Swati Maliwal, the chairperson of the Delhi Commission of Women, told CNN the victim told her she had been raped by three men as other women were present in the room.
Ms Maliwal added they were encouraging the men ‘to be more brutal with her’.
Swati Maliwal (pictured), the chairperson of the Delhi Commission of Women, told CNN the victim told her she had been raped by three men as other women were present in the room
‘When I saw that video and I saw these women attacking this girl…it just makes you feel so angry and sad that you have such women who can do something like that,’ she said.
The 18-year-old said she saw her sister be taken from her own home in Delhi’s Shahdara district on January 26 as she dropped off a bag of wheat for her.
The teenager described feeling ‘frozen with fear’ as the victim was hit and beaten. She managed to fend off a group wrangling to grab her sister’s two-and-a-half-year-old son and protect him as the toddler’s mother was taken into an autorickshaw.
The teenage girl followed them to the alleged perpetrators house less than two miles away, near her and her father’s home.
Unable to see her sister, the young girl rushed home and latched the door but heard noises outside, where she then saw her sister being hit with rods and led through the street.
The 18-year-old said she saw her sister be taken from her own home in Delhi’s Shahdara district (pictured in a file photo) on January 26 as she dropped off a bag of wheat for her
Her head was shaved and her face blackened with soot before she was paraded on foot as the crowd jeered her.
The hateful commotion went on for at least half an hour, the victim’s sister said, before she was able to get hep.
At the police station the teenager said her sister revealed she had been sexually assaulted before the mob paraded her in the street.
No charges have been brough forward over the attack, but police have said an investigation is underway, although did not confirm what the alleged perpetrators had been arrested for, according to CNN.
The chief minister of Delhi Arvind Kejriwal has spoken out about the incident on social media last month.
On January 27 he according to India Today in Hindi tweeted: ‘This is very shameful. How did the criminals get so much courage?
‘I urge the Union Home Minister and the Lieutenant Governor to instruct the police to take strict action and pay attention to the law and order situation.
‘Delhiites will not tolerate such heinous crimes and criminals at any cost.’
Earlier this week NDTV reported that one million rupees, which is equivalent to just over £9,800 was offered in financial assistance to the victim and Mr Kejriwal insisted the government will appoint her with ‘a good lawyer’.
Ms Maliwal in a statement said the Delhi government has also ‘helped her file an application in the court for interim compensation’.
She added: ‘Our team is there with her round the clock. We will also rehabilitate the girl.
‘The strictest punishment must be given to the culprits so that no one will dare to do such a crime again.’
Police increased security outside the victim’s sister’s home, where she still resides in Kasturba Nagar and according to NDTV a sister of the victim complained that the same alleged perpetrators harassed her on January 19 – one week before the incident.
Delhi’s Shahdara neighbourhood, where the incident took place, pictured earlier last year in April
The boy’s family had reportedly threatened the victim before, forcing her to move home.
The victim’s sister said the teenage boy had fallen in love with her and his family blamed the 20-year-old woman for his death.
‘[He] fell in love with her,’ she told NewsLaundry. ‘He used to keep calling and asking her to leave her husband and be with him. She would always refuse.’
Footage went viral of the victim being hauled through the streets while being hit and jeered.
Responding to the video, women’s rights activist Yogita Bhayana said: ‘The incident in Delhi’s Kasturbanagar left me speechless.
‘Some women kept walking her around for two hours! All the women involved must be arrested and severely punished.’
Just after the attack it was reported that the victim was thought to be in a stable condition and was being guarded by police in a safe house in Delhi.
India is known for having an endemic issue around sexual violence, particularly rape, which gained prominence after the horrific 2012 Delhi gang rape on board a bus during which a female student was killed.
Though the issue frequently makes headlines in India following that attack, tens of thousands of rapes are still reported each year – with many tens of thousands more suspected to go un-reported.
Despite pledges by politicians and police chiefs to take offences more seriously, the conviction rate for reported rapes in India remains below 30 per cent and has done for at least the last decade.
India also has a particular problem with sexual violence against minors, with around a fifth of victims in any given year being under the age of 18.
