A 20-year-old woman has died two weeks after she was gang-raped by four men in India, which left her paralyzed with a broken spine.
The horrific incident happened on 14th September, when the men described as ‘upper caste’ attacked the women near her home in the Hathras region, around 60 miles from Delhi.
The victim was cutting grass near her home when four men dragged her, stripped her, and then raped her.
The victim was from the ‘untouchable’ Dalit class has been on a ventilator in intensive care after the rape. Where she was pronounced dead after a week, four men are in custody and will be charged with murder.
The victim’s brother told the media that all of the family were in the field, cutting grass, but after some time, he and his brother went home, leaving mother and his sister in the field.
He said that his mother and his sister were working a little far from each other, four men came behind her, threw a shawl around her neck, and dragged her to the millet field.
When the mother realized that she was missing, she went looking for her only to find her naked and unconscious. He further stated that the police didn’t help them at all at first, nor they took any immediate actions- they only acted after a few days when this became national news.
The police in Uttar Pradesh state denied the claims that they did not act fast enough and say that they will fast track prosecution.
Hathras police chief Vikrant Vir said that this is really an unfortunate incident, and we have been proactive in making arrests and helping the family and ensured a swift investigation.
It was first reported that the victim’s tongue was cut out by the assailants, but later it was confirmed that the victim lacerated her own tongue when men tried to strangle her.
The Hathras district magistrate said that they had arrested all the attackers, and under the SC/ST Act, the family has received the financial support of Rs 10 lakh (£11,000). He also clarified that the reports of her tongue being chopped are not true at all.
Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Siddharth Nath Singh said that the incident is saddening and the government is standing with the family. He said that the investigation will start immediately and strict action will be taken against the attackers.
Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a leader of the opposition Congress party, posted on twitter, which says ‘There is next to no protection for women. Criminals are openly committing crimes,’
According to the data released by the government in January, states that one woman reports a rape every 15 minutes on an average in India.
Last December, a 23-year-old Dalit woman was set on fire by a gang of men after she made her way to a court in Uttar Pradesh to press rape charges.