Mumbai gang-rape: five held over attack on photo-journalist

[speedy57]

Mumbai gang-rape: five held over attack on photo-journalist

Woman taken to hospital following attack in abandoned textile mill in one of the city's fastest-growing neighbourhoods

• Maseeh Rahman in Delhi
• theguardian.com, Friday 23 August 2013 10.28 BST

Link to video: India's police vow to catch culprits after photo-journalist gang-raped

A woman working on an assignment to photograph old buildings in Mumbai was raped by five men on Thursday evening in an abandoned textile mill, provoking national outrage similar to that following last year's fatal gang-rape of a physiotherapist in Delhi.

The photojournalist was working on a photo feature on the crumbling residential buildings of former textile mill workers for a Mumbai-based English-language magazine.

She was taken to the Jaslok hospital after the attack, where doctors said her medical condition was stable.

Police arrested five men from the area in connection with the gang-rape, but the Mumbai commissioner, Satya Pal Singh, refused to give any details about those arrested, saying it was "a sensitive case".

"The woman, who is around 22 years old, had gone inside the Shakti Mills compound at about 6pm along with a young man who was carrying the cameras," Singh said. "Five men who were inside the derelict textile mill first accused the woman's companion of being wanted for a murder, tied him up with a belt, then took the woman aside and took turns raping her."

After the fatal gang-rape of a 23-year-old physiotherapist on a Delhi bus last December, Mumbai was often cited as an Indian city where women could feel safe on the streets.

"Mumbai was always safe for women, but in recent years the emphasis of the police and the home department has shifted from protecting women to restricting women's freedom," said Kavita Krishnan, a women's activist.

Krishnan recalled recent instances of "moral policing" in the city, with overzealous policemen targeting women in restaurants and bars. Maharashtra state's home minister, RR Patil, has also focused on closing down bars where women dance on stage, and wants to retain the ban despite strictures from India's supreme court.

"Mumbai's famous textile mill area was once one of the safest neighbourhoods in the city, with men and women working together," said Krishnan. "It's sad that this has happened now."

"Mumbai will feel safe for women again only if police focus on protecting us, not restricting us," she said. A month ago there was an acid attack on a woman in a suburb and last Sunday an American woman was attacked and robbed on a local train in the city's business district.

"Like every woman in Mumbai, I have held on desperately to the hope that women are safe in this city," blogged journalist Deepanjana Pal. "Yesterday, that faith was brutally violated."

After the Delhi gang-rape, the law was amended to make it more difficult for rapists to get off lightly or escape punishment. After Thursday evening's outrage in Mumbai, there are demands once again for a stricter law.

"There has to be deterrence. Must have stricter laws," tweeted the union minister, Kapil Sibal, who is also a prominent lawyer.

What's wrong there ?! :(

:view: www.theguardian.com

[Avonlea]

_{that is horrible}

[rudrax]

There won't be any change till the punishment for rape goes supreme.

[STEEL]

CUTT OFF :rant:

Edited January 13, 2014 by STEEL

[mikie]

Give them a sex change operation. Turn them into women.

[shamu726]

An I'm sure there are many more that go unreported. :(

[AlexCross]

An I'm sure there are many more that go unreported. :(

+1

[Roger D]

Just hang through dick..

:angry: :angry: :angry:

[johnse7en]

every sinner should be punished then next time bad guys will think 100 time before taking such steps

unfortunately Our country and probably in India rich never get punished thats why they are doing crime again and again and again

Edited August 24, 2013 by johnse7en

[dMog]

is the respect of females that poor in that country...

[speedy57]

Mumbai gang-rape: Indian police arrest fifth man

Police officers escort one of the men arrested in connection with the gang-rape of a photojournalist at a court in Mumbai on Sunday.

Photograph: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters

Police have arrested the last of five men wanted in connection with the gang-rape of a photojournalist in Mumbai.

They said charges would be filed soon in a case that has caused public outrage and renewed the debate over whether women can be safe in India.

The victim, a 22-year-old Indian woman, said she was anxious to return to work after Thursday night's assault, in which five men repeatedly raped her while her male colleague was beaten and tied up in an abandoned textile mill in the country's financial capital.

A statement from Jaslok hospital, where the woman has been since the attack, said her condition was being monitored but that she was "much better" and is being visited by her family. Indian law forbids identifying rape victims by name.

Police arrested the fifth suspect on Sunday in Delhi, the capital, after rounding up the other four in Mumbai.

"We will file a comprehensive charge sheet soon," said Mumbai's police commissioner, Satyapal Singh. He said police had the evidence to prosecute the suspects, including the victim's testimony and medical samples taken at the hospital where she was treated after the assault.

It is rare for rape victims to visit police or hospital immediately after an attack in India, where an entrenched culture of tolerance for sexual violence has led to many cases going unreported. Women often face social or police pressure to stay quiet about sexual assault, experts say, and those who do report cases are often subjected to public ridicule or social stigma.

People across India were shocked in December by the brutal gang-rape in Delhi of a 23-year-old student who died two weeks later from her injuries. Pledging to crack down, the federal government created fast-track courts for rape cases, doubled prison sentences for rape, and criminalised voyeurism, stalking, acid attacks and the trafficking of women.

Under intense pressure, police have acted quickly to hunt down the five suspects in the Mumbai case. The Maharashtra state home minister, RR Patil, visited investigators at a Mumbai police station on Saturday night, and the government has urged the harshest punishment for those found guilty.

The five suspects – including two picked up overnight and two arrested earlier – are likely to face prosecution under a strict new law that sets the maximum prison sentence for rape at 20 years.

Police said the suspects targeted the photojournalist as she and her male colleague were taking pictures on a magazine assignment in a south Mumbai neighbourhood where luxury malls and condominiums sit alongside sprawling slums and abandoned mills.

The suspects pretended to help get her permission to shoot then tied up the male journalist and dragged the woman into shrubbery where they assaulted her while threatening her with a broken beer bottle, police said.

A court on Saturday ordered two suspects to be held until 30 August, and police said one would undergo medical tests to determine his age after his family said he was a juvenile of 16. Police maintain he is 19, which makes him eligible for trial as an adult.

The eldest suspect is 25.

:view: www.theguardian.com

Edited August 25, 2013 by speedy57

[Roger D]

Yes! Yes! Yes! Cut the dick and make pickle and feed them.. :spank: :spank: :spank:

[nIGHT]

I can't imagine just how great the trauma of a rape victim.

I pray for all girls/women who were raped, may God give you justice and peace

.

She did not deserved this, no woman should get raped. :(

Shame on you rapist! :angry:

[dMog]

problem is this type of crime went unpunished for the past few hundred years in this country..in other countries rape victims can be stoned to death because they have shamed the family by not remaining pure...hard to find justice in countries that do not recognise women as human beings and some places a woman hold less value than the family goat