Delhi: Woman abducted in Shahdara, raped and paraded on the street; 7 arrested

Police said the motive appears to be personal enmity. “We have been told that one of the family members of the accused, aged around 15 or 16 years, was stalking the woman and also proposed to her, which she rejected. On November 12 last year, he left home and allegedly committed suicide by jumping in front of a train. The family blamed the woman and wanted revenge,” said an officer.

In one of the videos of the incident, a group of women can be seen thrashing the victim while parading her. Neighbours and locals are seen clapping, with no one coming forward to intervene. As the videos spread, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, East Delhi MP Gautam Gambhir, and Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal assured all help to the victim’s family.

In her statement to police, the woman alleged she was at home with her two-year-old child on Wednesday when some of the accused allegedly barged into their home, abducted her and took her to their house in Shahdara.

She alleged that a group of men locked her inside the house and raped her while the women “instigated” the men and later thrashed her with sticks. They also blackened her face and paraded her with a garland of slippers around her neck.

The woman’s sister told The Indian Express that on the day of the incident, she noticed she was being followed by members of the accused family.

“Around 11 am, I stepped out to meet my sister, who lives a few kilometres away. I felt I was being followed but I ignored it. When I reached her house, a few men broke in and threatened to kill my sister and her baby. I rushed to save the child; they grabbed my phone and took my sister. I locked myself in the room for some time. When I got out, they had left. I went home and found my sister was being paraded on the streets. Everyone was cheering. I called the police,” she alleged.

Police said they received a PCR call around 1 pm. DCP (Shahdara) R Sathiyasundaram said, “Our team rushed to the spot and found that a group of people were parading a woman on the streets and beating her up. We rescued the woman and took her to the police station, where her statement was recorded.”

Police said a case under sections of illegal confinement, abduction, gangrape, and physical and sexual assault has been registered against 11 people.

Condemning the attack on the woman, Kejriwal said in a tweet: “How did the criminals get so much courage? I request the Union Home Minister and the L-G 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.”