Posted on 01/20/2014 9:45:41 PM PST by robowombat
Lost Danish tourist ‘gang-raped’ in Delhi: police
January 16, 2014
NEW DELHI: Indian police rounded up a group of homeless men on Wednesday over the alleged gang-rape of a 51-year-old Danish tourist who lost her way near the main backpacker’s area of the capital, officers said.
The woman approached the suspects for directions early on Tuesday evening while trying to return to her hotel in the bustling Paharganj district of New Delhi, reportedly after visiting a city museum. Up to six “youngsters” allegedly assaulted and robbed the victim, who was travelling alone and had been in New Delhi since Monday after visiting the Taj Mahal, police and a receptionist at her hotel told AFP. “We have detained a group of men and we are questioning them over the incident,” special commissioner of police Deepak Mishra told AFP.
A senior investigating officer in the Paharganj police station told AFP on condition of anonymity that the victim was held hostage at knife-point for three hours and had been kicked and slapped. Her mobile phone and cash were also stolen.
The alleged attack just minutes from Connaught Place in the heart of the capital is the latest involving a foreigner in India, and again raises questions about the safety of women in the world’s second most populous country. Last month, India marked the first anniversary of the death of the student who was gang-raped on a moving bus in the capital in an attack that sent shockwaves across the nation.
The Danish victim refused to be medically examined and was clearly traumatised by the experience, but gave a detailed statement overnight in the presence of her country’s ambassador, police said. She has since left India.
“We have identified around four to six people who are the prime suspects in the case,” the investigating policeman said, adding that they appeared to be “vagabonds”. “She told us that the attackers were mostly youngsters,” he added.
The crime scene was inside the grounds of the Railway Officers Club on State Entry Road with the victim saying she was dragged to a secluded area shrouded by trees near a statue, police said. A police forensic team visited on Wednesday morning and police are in possession of the clothes the victim was wearing at the time of the attack.
Kuldeep Singh, a receptionist at the victim’s hotel, said the woman had appeared calm when she returned at about 8:30pm (1500 GMT) but then confided in a fellow traveller.
“She first came to me at the reception desk and told me that she needed 200 rupees to give to the auto driver as she had been robbed,” Singh said. Danish ambassador Freddy Svane told AFP the embassy was providing assistance to the woman, but declined to give further details. The case comes after a Polish woman was allegedly drugged and raped by a taxi driver earlier this month while travelling with her two-year-old daughter to New Delhi.
Women tourists in Paharganj said they were aware of past cases and the new incident had rung alarm bells.
“I felt very unsafe with walking the streets and seeing what you see and everybody staring at you, but you can’t not travel to India because of it,” said Jessica Orpwood, a 21-year-old student backpacker from New Zealand. Protests over sexual violence in the last year have prompted India’s parliament to toughen laws for rapists and other offenders, while other judicial and police reforms that have encouraged women to report attacks.
But daily accounts of brutal assaults continue to be reported in the country’s newspapers.
A schoolgirl was raped by eight men in the eastern city of Ranchi this week while they held her male friend, the Hindustan Times reported on Wednesday. A judge last month sentenced three Nepalese men to 20 years in jail for the gang-rape of a US tourist in June in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh.
While I truly feel bad for the victims, they themselves, by their casual approach to being a tourist, bring on the attacks. There are enough cases like these to educate the would be tourists that you DO NOT TRAVEL ALONE in these 5th would countries. In fact, it is getting that bad right here in the U.S. Wake up women!!!!
People (especially women) must be incredibly naive to travel alone in these 3rd world rats nests. They must believe all the multicultural nonsense they learn in college. People are not all the same, cultures are not all equal. Hiking through Delhi is not the same as hiking in the Netherlands.
Ah yes, the vibrant colours , flavours and smells of India...
Thank you for reminding me why I’ve never been there.
I think one reason "student backpackers" go to India is the drugs.
I know people who have gone to India for work. One of my friends is a technical trainer in the energy industry; she went there for several months to train workers for a power plant that was being built. Everything she did was coordinated by the power company: she wasn't "on the economy."
Ha! No kidding.
My sister in law’s sister went for study abroad. She said she had diarrhea the whole time. Terrible place to have it too.
That reminds me of how South Korea smelled in 1961 when I arrived there as a soldier. The smell came mainly from human feces (used as fertilizer). It really took one's breath away, but over time one got used to it.
I cannot say that I missed it upon coming back to the USA, though.
Why have you been to India many times if it is that bad?
To be fair, things like this happen in USA too.
Since India is more than 3x US population, we would expect more than 3x the number of gang rapes.
“no wonder so many immigrate to America these days
to get away from this !”
One of the many problems with forcing third world immigration on the United States is that many bring those same cultural attitudes here. Although fortunately I’ve yet to see corpses floating down the river.
“My sister in law’s sister went for study abroad. She said she had diarrhea the whole time. Terrible place to have it too.”
A friend of mine was over there a few years ago (to expedite the transfer of tech jobs from the US to India); he described a group of people (I don’t know if they are a separate caste) that would come out at night and pick up the human feces that people dropped everywhere during the day. They literally crapped anywhere; absolutely disgusting.
“I know people who have gone to India for work. One of my friends is a technical trainer in the energy industry; she went there for several months to train workers for a power plant that was being built. Everything she did was coordinated by the power company: she wasn’t “on the economy.”
I understand there are a lot of opportunities in India now for Indians living here in the US; I know staffing is one area where some go back. As a Westerner I couldn’t imagine it...
I was visiting all the places associated with the life and times of the Buddha . Unfortunately they are all in India . All 3 times I got deathly ill with bronchial infections , from breathing all the dried crap that mixes into dust and that’s what you breathe . Constantly .
the people that migrate are the people of culture and class , wealthy enough to leave and wealthy enough to obtain western education and levels of employment and creativity . They are not the vast masses of ordinary Indians . Countless millions of deeming lower classes defile the entire country , outside of enclaves . They do little to adhere to the higher aspirations of their religion , they are racist , sexist , unbelievably greedy and cunning , and often dangerous as can be . Why? Because they are desperately poor and have no hopes or goals in life . Little matters , just survival . Look at this as some sort of future model if socialism succeeds in America . A true zombie(like) apocalypse!
the 1st things that happens , in Calcutta at least , is that the airport entry officials try to extort your for ‘foreign currency ‘ , delaying you at their post , while their cohorts in baggage claim locate and rifle your belongings . Reports and claims to India Airlines go ignored and unanswered .
the Paks ARE Indians ....all cut of the same clothe , just different religious over-lays
tons of hippies and Euro trash , rasta japanaese and so-called spiritual seekers from all over travel there all the time , independently.They are all targets and marks . Easy rupee . The only safe way to see India is to book into a guided tour , with all accommodations and activities secured and pre-planned . I never did it that way but on retrospect , wished I had.
I got the worst bronchial infection of my life from just breathing dust in Oklahoma. I understand how people died from dust pneumonia back during dust bowl times.
I coughed so hard with my bronchitis that I bled into my eyeballs and my vision is not as sharp as it was. Next time I go to Oklahoma I will have a dust mask with me.
YIKES!
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