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Arrests after Indian woman gang-raped, burned to death
NEW DELHI, July 16, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Indian police arrested two men on
Monday over the gang rape and burning to death of a woman, the latest
shocking crime against females in the country, officials said.
Five men allegedly took it in turns to rape the woman after barging into
her home early on Saturday, before dragging her to a Hindu temple where they
burned her to death in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh.
“Two of the accused were arrested from an adjoining district early Monday
and we are looking for the rest,” local police chief Radhey Mohan Bhardwaj
told AFP.
Initial investigations found the men, who are members of the same
extended family as the victim and from the same locality, were “annoyed” with
the 35-year-old for meeting a particular man, Bhardwaj said.
Police said the mother-of-two revealed the identities of the accused to
her husband over the phone after the alleged rape and before they took her to
the nearby temple and murdered her.
Police rejected media reports that the woman’s desperate emergency phone
call went unanswered, saying it was unsuccessful because of the poor network
quality in the area.
India has a grim record of sexual violence, with nearly 40,000 rape
cases reported countrywide in 2016.
Campaigners say the true figure is likely to be much higher given the
social stigma around victims of sexual crimes.
Uttar Pradesh, India’s most populous state, reported more than 4,800
rapes in 2016.
The state has been rocked by several high profile rape cases in recent
months, including one that allegedly involved a lawmaker from the ruling
party.
Sexual violence in India has been in the global spotlight since the 2012
gang-rape and murder of a woman on a New Delhi bus sparked angry protests and
stiffer penalties.
BSS/AFP/RY/1635 hrs