http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-india-41736039
India rape: Bystanders ignored Vishakhapatnam attack
By Geeta Pandey BBC News, Delhi
Would you intervene and help her? Or, would you keep walking, or make a video on your mobile phone which could lead to his identification and arrest later?
That's a question that's being asked in India after a woman was raped on a busy pavement in broad daylight in the southern city of Vishakhapatnam on Sunday.
A video of the crime, shot by an auto-rickshaw driver, shows many people walking by.
One man comes really close to where the crime is taking place but suddenly changes course and gets off the pavement, perhaps realising what's happening there.
"One man made a video while a second man called us to tell us about what was happening," police inspector GV Ramana told BBC Hindi.
"But by the time police reached there, the rapist had run away. He was identified from the video and we arrested him later that night," Mr Ramana said.
According to Indian media reports, the woman is in her late 20s and had come to Vishakhapatnam from the outskirts of the city after she had a fight with her husband.
Some reports said she was "mentally ill" while others said she was so enfeebled from hunger and thirst that she could not even scream for help.
Police said she was attacked by the man, who is in his early 20s, while she was resting under a tree on the pavement near a busy railway station. The rapist, they say, is an alcoholic and a drug addict who has previous criminal records for drug peddling and robbery.
Thousands of rapes are reported to the police every year in India, but the fact that the assault took place at 14:00 in the afternoon on a busy stretch of road, and no-one came forward to help the victim, has put the spotlight on the issue of bystander apathy, with some wondering if we have truly turned into a nation of onlookers.
Many took to social media to express outrage, describing this "new low in public apathy" as "disgusting".
VIDEO:
http://www.timesnownews.com/india/v...-onlookers-record-video-vishakhapatnam/111130
India rape: Bystanders ignored Vishakhapatnam attack
By Geeta Pandey BBC News, Delhi
- 24 October 2017
- From the section India
Would you intervene and help her? Or, would you keep walking, or make a video on your mobile phone which could lead to his identification and arrest later?
That's a question that's being asked in India after a woman was raped on a busy pavement in broad daylight in the southern city of Vishakhapatnam on Sunday.
A video of the crime, shot by an auto-rickshaw driver, shows many people walking by.
One man comes really close to where the crime is taking place but suddenly changes course and gets off the pavement, perhaps realising what's happening there.
"One man made a video while a second man called us to tell us about what was happening," police inspector GV Ramana told BBC Hindi.
"But by the time police reached there, the rapist had run away. He was identified from the video and we arrested him later that night," Mr Ramana said.
According to Indian media reports, the woman is in her late 20s and had come to Vishakhapatnam from the outskirts of the city after she had a fight with her husband.
Some reports said she was "mentally ill" while others said she was so enfeebled from hunger and thirst that she could not even scream for help.
Police said she was attacked by the man, who is in his early 20s, while she was resting under a tree on the pavement near a busy railway station. The rapist, they say, is an alcoholic and a drug addict who has previous criminal records for drug peddling and robbery.
Thousands of rapes are reported to the police every year in India, but the fact that the assault took place at 14:00 in the afternoon on a busy stretch of road, and no-one came forward to help the victim, has put the spotlight on the issue of bystander apathy, with some wondering if we have truly turned into a nation of onlookers.
Many took to social media to express outrage, describing this "new low in public apathy" as "disgusting".
VIDEO:
http://www.timesnownews.com/india/v...-onlookers-record-video-vishakhapatnam/111130
