National Human Rights Commission
New Delhi
Dear Sir,
I
want to bring in your kind attention towards the news published in BBC
on 15 January, 2014 regarding Danish woman gang-raped in Indian capital
Delhi
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-india-25740355
15 January 2014 Last updated at 16:12 GMT
Danish woman gang-raped in Indian capital Delhi
The woman was staying in Delhi's backpacker district when she lost her way, as Andrew North reports
Police in the Indian capital Delhi are investigating the alleged gang
rape of a Danish woman who lost her way near her city centre hotel.
The 51-year-old tourist was attacked by a group of men in the Paharganj
area on Tuesday evening. Police say she was robbed and raped at knife
point.
A German woman has also been raped in south India, Der Spiegel reports.
Scrutiny of sexual violence in India has grown since the 2012 gang rape and murder of a student on a Delhi bus.
Continue reading the main story
It's hard to imagine a worse headline for India's image abroad, after the battering it has taken over the issue of rape.
After
the fatal assault on a Delhi student just over a year ago, the city has
earned the unwelcome title "India's rape capital". The picture is not
as bad as the media paints, Indian officials say. Other countries also
have a rape problem, they protest.
But
ever since the Delhi gang-rape case, the safety of women and the
discrimination they suffer in Indian society has been in the spotlight.
The Indian media just as much as the foreign media are giving the issue
much more space.
And
while the case involving the Danish woman is getting priority attention
from the Delhi police, many say what's still needed is the justice
system and Indian society in general to take the issue more seriously.
The government tightened laws on sexual violence last year after widespread protests following the attack.
But violence and discrimination against women remain deeply entrenched in India's staunchly patriarchal society.
The Danish woman told police that she approached the group of men after
losing her way back to her hotel near New Delhi Railway Station.
The men robbed her of her belongings and raped her, police spokesman Rajan Bhagat told the BBC.
"She reached her hotel and reported the incident to the manager who
called in the police and the investigation is now under way," Mr Bhagat
said.
The woman flew out of India on Wednesday morning, police say.
No arrests have been made yet, but police are questioning a number of men in connection with the attack.
The Danish woman is believed to have been travelling alone and had been
in Delhi since Monday after visiting the Taj Mahal, the BBC's Andrew
North in Delhi reports.
Police say she gave a detailed statement in the presence of the Danish
ambassador before leaving the country, AFP news agency reports. There
was no immediate comment from the Danish embassy in Delhi.
Paharganj, a busy backpacker district frequented by foreign tourists, is
located in the heart of the Indian capital, not far from Connaught
Place.
An 18-year-old German woman was reportedly raped by a man sharing her
compartment on a train travelling from Mangalore to Chennai in southern
India on Friday.
A man, described as a migrant worker from Bihar state, was arrested on Tuesday, Der Spiegel newspaper reported.
Last March a Swiss tourist was gang raped and her partner attacked by a
group of men in Madhya Pradesh state. Six men were jailed for life for
the attack in July.
Since the December 2012 Delhi gang rape, the nation has been shocked by a string of brutal rapes of Indian women.
They include a photojournalist raped in broad daylight in central
Mumbai, a 21-year-old woman raped by two apparently unrelated groups of
men on Christmas Eve in Pondicherry and a 16-year-old girl who died
after being gang-raped twice and then set on fire in the eastern city of
Calcutta.
Although cases involving foreigners continue to get far more attention
in the media and from the police, Indian women who are raped are still
far less likely to receive justice, our correspondent says.
Therefore it is kind request please take appropriate action at earliest.
Thanking You
Sincerely Yours
Shruti Nagvanshi
Convener
Savitri Bai Phule Women Forum
&
Shirin Shabana Khan
Program Director
