A 20-year-old woman has died two weeks after an horrific gang-rape by four men in India that left her paralysed with a broken spine.
The men, who are described as ‘upper caste’ in local media, attacked the woman near her home in the Hathras region, around 60 miles from Delhi, on September 14.
The unnamed victim, of the ‘untouchable’ Dalit class, had been on a ventilator in intensive care after the savage rape left her with multiple fractures.
She was only yesterday moved from a hospital in upstate Uttar Pradesh to one in the capital.
The four attackers are in custody and will now be charged with murder.
The four attackers are in custody and will now be charged with murder
The young woman had been cutting grass near her home when she was dragged into millet fields and stripped by the attackers.
Her brother told NDTV: ‘My mother, sister and elder brother had gone to a field to get some grass. My brother went home earlier with a large bundle of grass, while my mother and sister continued to cut them.
‘The women were a little far from each other. Four-five people came from behind, they threw my sister’s dupatta (shawl) around her neck and dragged her inside the bajra (millet) field.
‘My mother realised she was missing and went looking for her. My sister was found unconscious. They had raped her. The police did not help us initially… they did not take quick action. They acted only after four-five days.’
It has been reported that the woman’s tongue was cut out by the attackers, however, it has since been clarified by officials that the woman lacerated her own tongue when she bit down on it as the men tried to strangle her with her scarf.
The Hathras district magistrate said today: ‘All four accused have been arrested. Under the SC/ST Act, her family has been given the financial support of Rs 10 lakh (£11,000), in total. Reports of her tongue being chopped off are not true.’
Today the woman’s brothers, who say the police only acted when the case became a national scandal, claimed that officials failed to move her to adequate medical facilities in time.
‘We were told that she would be taken to AIIMS (All India Institute Of Medical Sciences, New Delhi) but she was taken to Safdarjung,’ one of them told reporters.
‘Her condition was very bad. She was found in the bajra field, without clothes. Initially we even wondered if she was bitten by a snake. Three bones on her neck were broken. She had difficulty breathing… She needed oxygen right from the beginning. We reached here (Safdarjung Hospital) yesterday,’ another brother told the local press.
The police in Uttar Pradesh state have denied the family’s claims that they did not act fast enough and say that they will fast track a prosecution.
Hathras police chief Vikrant Vir told NDTV: ‘This is a very unfortunate incident but we have been proactive in making arrests and helping the family in whatever manner possible. I will personally ensure swift investigation and that these men are tried in a fast track court.’
The case, the latest in a harrowing litany to plague the country, has been reported across the country and compared to the 2012 Nirbhaya gang-rape, a rape and murder which took place on a bus in Delhi and sparked waves of national protests.
Today around 300 protesters from the Bhim Army, a party championing the rights of Dalit community of which the woman was a member, entered the hospital premises and shouted slogans near the mortuary.
Demonstrators shout slogans during a protest after the death of a rape victim inside the premises of Safdarjung Hospital in New Delhi, India, on Tuesday
Uttar Pradesh cabinet minister Siddharth Nath Singh said: ‘The incident is very saddening. Our government stands with the victim’s family. Investigation started immediately and four accused have been arrested. Strict action will be taken. The law will take its course.’
‘There is next to no protection for women. Criminals are openly committing crimes,’ Priyanka Gandhi Vadra, a leader of the opposition Congress party, said on Twitter.
One woman reported a rape every 15 minutes on an average in India in 2018, according to the latest government data released in January.
The woman’s home state of Uttar Pradesh, which ruled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, ranks as the most unsafe state for women in the country.
Last December, a 23-year-old Dalit woman was set ablaze by a gang of men as she made her way to a court in Uttar Pradesh to press rape charges.