According to reports three individuals were apprehended in Mumbai on Saturday following the sexual assault of a Spanish tourist who was traveling by motorbike with her husband in India’s secluded eastern region.
On Friday night, the assault occurred in the Dumka district of Jharkhand, located in the eastern region of India, where the couple had halted to camp in a tent for the night. According to police officer Pitamber Singh Kherwar, the woman managed to approach a police patrol van around 11 pm and was subsequently transported to the hospital for medical attention, as reported by The Times of India newspaper.
Kherwar mentioned that three individuals have been detained by the police regarding the assault, and efforts are underway to apprehend additional suspects.
Reports indicate that the Spanish woman is currently receiving medical treatment at a local hospital in Dumka, and an investigation into the incident is ongoing. According to data from the National Crime Records Bureau, an average of nearly 90 rapes were reported in India each day in 2022.
However, large numbers go unreported due to prevailing stigmas around victims and a lack of faith in police investigations. Convictions remain rare, with cases getting stuck for years in India’s clogged-up criminal justice system.
The notorious gang rape and murder of an Indian student made global headlines in 2012. Jyoti Singh, a 23-year-old physiotherapy student, was raped and assaulted and left for dead by five men and a teenager on a bus in New Delhi in December that year.
The horrific crime shone an international spotlight on India’s high levels of sexual violence and sparked weeks of protests, and eventually a change in the law to introduce the death penalty for rape.
India is considered as one of the deadliest country for crime against women.