Indian woman beaten for ‘wearing short dress’ and ‘roaming around with men late at night’

Unnamed woman says she was travelling home when she was dragged out of the car and 'thrashed' by a group of men

Members of NGO 'Aastha' hold placards during an anti-rape protest in Mumbai (Getty)

A 22-year-old woman in India was allegedly dragged out of a car and thrashed by a group of men for wearing a “short dress” and “roaming around with men late at night”.

The unnamed woman said she was travelling home from a dance lesson with friends at around 5:30am in the city of Pune, near Mumbai, when a group of men in another car began to follow them and hurl abuse at her.

She told local police: “While returning home, a car containing a group of men followed us till our house and blocked our way. Later, they dragged me out of the car and thrashed me”.

When one of her male friends attempted to intervene he was also hit.

She said the men targeted her because of what she was wearing and because she was with two men late at night.

They allegedly came back five minutes later to threaten her with dire consequences if she ever did it again, the Hindustan Times reported.

Police initially delayed filing her complaint and only began to investigate a week later.

Two men have been arrested so far and police are now looking for the others involved, according to the International Business Times.

Women in Kolkata stage peaceful protest outside the courthouse where three men are sentenced to death for gang-raping and murdering a 20-year-old woman

Three policemen are also being investigated for failing to file the report correctly.

The Deputy Commissioner of Police, Arvind Chaweria said the police were using a technique called “burking” - a practice where they file complaints late to manipulate crime figures.

The incident is just the latest in a long line of examples of violence against women in India.

It comes as footage emerged of a 13-year-old being whipped by village elders who said she deserved to be punished for the “crime” of being raped by her father.

The plight of women in India came to international attention in 2012 when a young medical student called Jyoti Singh was gang raped, beaten and mutilated by a group of men while on a bus in New Delhi.

The international outcry lead the Indian government to fast-track the trials of the five men, who were given the death penalty, and one juvenile.

Despite this, many women are blamed for being attacked, with claims they must have been behaving “immodestly”.

One of her attackers, Mukesh Singh, said her death was an “accident” but she was more to blame for it.

“A decent girl won't roam around at nine o'clock at night,” he said. “A girl is far more responsible for rape than a boy. Boys and girls are not equal.

“Housework and housekeeping is for girls, not roaming in discos and bars at night doing wrong things, wearing wrong clothes.”