- Friday, April 26, 2024
By: Shubham Ghosh
MEMORIES of the horrific Nirbhaya rape case of 2012 were back on Tuesday (24) when a 23-year-old student was allegedly gangraped in the city of Mysuru in the southern Indian state of Karnataka by four or five unidentified persons when she was returning from a forested area with a male friend.
The incident took place around 8 pm India time near Chamundi hills, a secluded forest area. The woman was identified as a student from outside the state who was studying in the city, which is known for its tourist attractions.
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The woman was earlier reported to be “critical” and undergoing treatment in a hospital but sources in Mysuru city said she is “out of danger”.
BBC reported that the woman, who studies at a local management institute, was accosted along with her college friend while they were returning to the city from Lalithadripura, a suburb. Police said the attackers were reportedly drunk and hit the male and sexually assaulted the woman. The police also added that while the men tried to rob the duo initially, they later thrashed the male friend and took the female away to sexually assault her.
Mysuru police commissioner Chandragupta told BBC that the woman was out of danger.
“Several teams have been formed to arrest the culprits. It is a sensitive case and more details cannot be disclosed,” he added.
Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj S Bommai on Thursday (26) said the government has taken the gang-rape incident in Mysuru “seriously” and that the perpetrators will be caught soon and brought to justice.
“It’s an unfortunate incident. My government has taken it seriously. The perpetrators will be caught soon and brought to justice,” Bommai, who is on a two-day visit to the national capital, told reporters.
The case was being compared with the shocking gangrape of a 23-year-old paramedic student on a moving bus in New Delhi, the capital of India, in December 2012. The woman, who sustained grievous injuries, died later in a hospital in Singapore. She too was accompanied by a male friend who was also assaulted. It was based on his information that the police later arrested the rapists, including a juvenile. Five of the adults were given death penalty. One of them allegedly committed suicide in jail later while four were hanged last year.
The incident sparked such an outrage both in India and abroad that the rulers of the day were forced to bring in tough laws to deal with sexual crimes.
However, despite the heightened scrutiny, there has been little let-up in the number of sexual crimes against women in India.
Also on Tuesday, a woman who self-immolated her after outside the Supreme Court of India along with a male friend while seeking justice against a parliamentarian from the northern state of Uttar Pradesh who she accused of rape, died in hospital after sustaining severe burn injuries.
