More charges brought in case of ‘gang-rape survivor’ paraded through streets of Delhi

Younger sister of victim had filed a complaint of assault and molestation, a week before her 20-year-old sister was allegedly abducted and gang-raped

Representative: A Delhi police barrier blocks a street (AFP via Getty Images)

Days after a young woman was allegedly abducted, gang-raped, and paraded on the streets of India’s capital, the police have registered another case against the accused family on the basis of a complaint filed by the survivor’s younger sister.

In a case that led to widespread outrage, a 20-year-old woman was publicly shamed and paraded in Delhi’s Kasturba Nagar neighbourhood last Wednesday, with her head tonsured, face blackened and a garland of shoes placed around her neck after she was allegedly abducted and raped.

It has emerged that nearly a week before the attack on the woman, her 18-year-old sister was also allegedly harassed and molested by the same people who are accused of assaulting her sister. While the sister had filed a complaint on 19 January no action was taken at the time, reported the Indian Express.

According to the younger sister, the trouble began when a 14-year-old boy living in the neighbourhood started claiming to have feelings for the elder sister. Already married in 2018, she declined the boy’s advances. “He used to keep calling and asking her to leave her husband and be with him. She would always refuse,” the younger sister told NewsLaundry.

In November last year, the boy died by suicide. “They blamed my sister for [the boys’s] death,” she said, adding they “started taking out their anger against us”.

In a complaint filed on 19 January, the teenager said the accused family thrashed her and tore her clothes, in an effort to extract the whereabouts of her sister.

“We have an auto (rickshaw) but these people set our auto on fire as well. I also run a small shop of groceries but they don’t even let me work there. They come and threaten me. Whenever I step out of the house, the boys in the accused family sexually harass me, tear off my clothes and don’t stop even when I plead,” the girl had said in her complaint, reported the Hindustan Times.

A week later, on 26 January, the elder sister was allegedly abducted, gang-raped and assaulted. A video later circulated widely on social media, showed the alleged victim being paraded down a road in Kasturba Nagar, with her pleading and crying as a crowd around her, mostly women, assaulted her and onlookers cheered.

The incident drew widespread condemnation, with the city’s chief minister Arvind Kejriwal urging the central government to direct the federally-controlled Delhi Police to take strict action.

"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, pay attention to the law and order situation. Delhiites will not tolerate such heinous crime and criminals at any cost," he had tweeted.

The police have now registered a case under various sections of the Indian Penal Code including gang rape, physical assault and sexual assault, and have arrested a man and eight women and detained three minors, who have been referred to correctional facilities.

Most Indian media have not identified those arrested in order to protect the identity of the alleged survivor, in keeping with laws around victims of sexual assault in India.

The National Commission for Women has demanded that steps be taken to ensure the safety of the victims and their family.

In a letter sent to Delhi Police Commissioner Rakesh Asthana on Thursday, NCW chief Rekha Sharma also called for the timely completion of the police inquiry.