Woman assaulted and paraded in Delhi street; 4 arrested

A shocking case of sexual assault of a woman in Delhi on Republic Day has emerged, where a 20-year-old woman was allegedly abducted, sexually assaulted, had her hair forcibly chopped, her face blackened, garlanded with shoes and paraded through the streets of Delhi’s Kasturba Nagar. On Thursday, Delhi Police said that four people have been arrested.

The incident has drawn sharp reactions from Delhi CM Arvind Kejriwal, as well as the Delhi Commission for Women. Kejriwal reached out to HM Amit Shah to take appropriate action. NCW chief Rekha Sharma took suo motu cognisance of the case and wrote to Delhi Commissioner of Police Rakesh Asthana asking him to arrest all the perpetrators at the earliest and complete investigation within two months.

The incident took place on Wednesday, when the woman was abducted from her husband’s home in Anand Vihar. The police said that the incident could be the result of personal enmity, as preliminary investigations indicated that the woman and a boy belonging to the family of the accused were friends.

“The boy committed suicide in November last year and his family is now blaming the victim. They have alleged that it was because of her he took the extreme step. To extract revenge from her, they allegedly abducted her," a senior police officer said.

The police have registered an FIR under sections of the Indian Penal Code. “We have arrested four accused persons who are from the same family. The victim was given counselling and medical aid," said DCP Shahdara R Sathiyasundaram.

Police said they rescued the woman from the home of the accused after they received a call at 1:18 pm on Wednesday. In her complaint to the police, the woman alleged that she was abducted by the accused who are acquaintances, living near her mother’s place. She said they took her to their house where they allegedly thrashed her, sexually assaulted her, chopped her hair and forcefully made her wear a garland of slippers. They then humiliated her in public by parading her, a senior police officer said.

In the video purportedly of the incident, the woman can be seen being paraded by a group of people, including women who were abusing her. While she was being paraded on the street, people were also heard whistling in the background.

Condemning the attack on the woman, Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said it was really shameful. “How did the criminals get so much courage? I request the Union Home Minister and the LG to direct police to take strict action and pay attention to the law and order situation. Delhiites won't tolerate such heinous crimes and criminals at any cost,” he tweeted in Hindi.

NCW chairperson Rekha Sharma, in her letter to DCP Asthana, asked him to file a case under Sections 376 D, 506, 352 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code. “The Commission is distressed with the abysmal alleged incident,” Sharma wrote, asking for compensation to the victim under section 357A of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

The Delhi Commission for Women said it has sent a notice to Delhi Police seeking strict action against the accused after several videos of the woman being paraded were circulated on social media platforms.

“All criminals, including women, should be arrested and the woman and her family should be given security,” DCW chairperson Swati Maliwal said in a tweet in Hindi. Maliwal also met the young woman and said she had wounds all over her body.

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