Friend of Murdered Delhi Bus Rape Victim Recalls Two-Hour Attack
Andrew MacAskill, ©2013 Bloomberg News
Published 6:56 am, Saturday, January 5, 2013
Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The male friend of a woman repeatedly raped aboard a bus in New Delhi last month has described the two-hour assault which ended with the couple being thrown on to the road, ignored by passersby and argued over by police.
In an interview last night with the Zee News television channel, the man, who along with the rape victim hasn’t been named, described how the couple had been lured on to the bus plying illegally on the night of Dec. 16 as they returned home from a film theater in a southern neighborhood of the Indian capital.
The six men aboard the bus, “which had tinted windows and curtains, had laid a trap for us,” he told the channel. “They beat us up, hit us with an iron rod, snatched our clothes and belongings and threw us off the bus on a deserted stretch.” The woman, who was flown to Singapore for medical treatment paid for by the Indian government, died in the hospital Dec. 29.
The attack has triggered weeks of protests and forced the government to address demands for swifter justice, safer streets and heavier sentences in rape cases. India’s top court yesterday began considering demands for faster trials and the suspension of lawmakers accused of sex crimes amid the outpouring of anger.
Police on Jan. 3 charged five men with raping and murdering the 23-year-old physiotherapy student. A hearing in the case was scheduled for today. The sixth accused may be under 18 and face a separate judicial process where sentencing is more lenient. That has brought calls from some of India’s states for the juvenile age limit to be lowered to 16 years of age.
Taken Away
“The bus occupants had everything planned,” the man said in last night’s interview. “Apart from the driver and his helper, the others behaved like they were passengers. We even paid 20 rupees (36 cents) as fare. Then they started teasing my friend and it led to a brawl” that ended with an attack with an iron rod, he said. “Before I fell unconscious, they took my friend away.”
In revelations that will add to pressure on the government to overhaul policing in the city, the man who survived the attack told Zee News how officers took 45 minutes to arrive at the scene after the couple were thrown from the bus without clothes, with several cars, rickshaws and motorbikes failing to stop to help.
Once police did arrive they failed to provide blankets and delayed taking the couple to a hospital as officers decided which station had jurisdiction in the case, he told the channel.
Zee Case
Zee showed images of the man sitting in a wheelchair and wearing a leg support.
After the interview was broadcast, police in the capital filed a criminal case against Zee News for revealing the identity of the man who was attacked, Rajan Bhagat, a spokesman for the force, said by phone. The interview made it possible to identity the murdered woman, he said, which is prohibited in rape cases.
Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar told a parliamentary panel yesterday that there was a shortage of police in the city and vacancies needed to be filled urgently, Press Trust of India reported.
Amid the uproar created by the case, a petition filed by a retired civil servant yesterday requested Supreme Court judges consider eight steps, among them ensuring all rape claims are investigated by female police officers and denying bail to defendants accused of multiple sexual offences.
Rape Capital
“Unfortunately, it is going to be very difficult to change the situation overnight,” said Jagdeep Chhokar, a former professor at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad and founder of the Association for Democratic Reforms, which has campaigned for better governance since 1999. “What is needed is a change in attitudes, which is a very long term process.”
Andrew MacAskill, ©2013 Bloomberg News
Published 6:56 am, Saturday, January 5, 2013
Jan. 5 (Bloomberg) -- The male friend of a woman repeatedly raped aboard a bus in New Delhi last month has described the two-hour assault which ended with the couple being thrown on to the road, ignored by passersby and argued over by police.
In an interview last night with the Zee News television channel, the man, who along with the rape victim hasn’t been named, described how the couple had been lured on to the bus plying illegally on the night of Dec. 16 as they returned home from a film theater in a southern neighborhood of the Indian capital.
The six men aboard the bus, “which had tinted windows and curtains, had laid a trap for us,” he told the channel. “They beat us up, hit us with an iron rod, snatched our clothes and belongings and threw us off the bus on a deserted stretch.” The woman, who was flown to Singapore for medical treatment paid for by the Indian government, died in the hospital Dec. 29.
The attack has triggered weeks of protests and forced the government to address demands for swifter justice, safer streets and heavier sentences in rape cases. India’s top court yesterday began considering demands for faster trials and the suspension of lawmakers accused of sex crimes amid the outpouring of anger.
Police on Jan. 3 charged five men with raping and murdering the 23-year-old physiotherapy student. A hearing in the case was scheduled for today. The sixth accused may be under 18 and face a separate judicial process where sentencing is more lenient. That has brought calls from some of India’s states for the juvenile age limit to be lowered to 16 years of age.
Taken Away
“The bus occupants had everything planned,” the man said in last night’s interview. “Apart from the driver and his helper, the others behaved like they were passengers. We even paid 20 rupees (36 cents) as fare. Then they started teasing my friend and it led to a brawl” that ended with an attack with an iron rod, he said. “Before I fell unconscious, they took my friend away.”
In revelations that will add to pressure on the government to overhaul policing in the city, the man who survived the attack told Zee News how officers took 45 minutes to arrive at the scene after the couple were thrown from the bus without clothes, with several cars, rickshaws and motorbikes failing to stop to help.
Once police did arrive they failed to provide blankets and delayed taking the couple to a hospital as officers decided which station had jurisdiction in the case, he told the channel.
Zee Case
Zee showed images of the man sitting in a wheelchair and wearing a leg support.
After the interview was broadcast, police in the capital filed a criminal case against Zee News for revealing the identity of the man who was attacked, Rajan Bhagat, a spokesman for the force, said by phone. The interview made it possible to identity the murdered woman, he said, which is prohibited in rape cases.
Delhi Police Commissioner Neeraj Kumar told a parliamentary panel yesterday that there was a shortage of police in the city and vacancies needed to be filled urgently, Press Trust of India reported.
Amid the uproar created by the case, a petition filed by a retired civil servant yesterday requested Supreme Court judges consider eight steps, among them ensuring all rape claims are investigated by female police officers and denying bail to defendants accused of multiple sexual offences.
Rape Capital
“Unfortunately, it is going to be very difficult to change the situation overnight,” said Jagdeep Chhokar, a former professor at the Indian Institute of Management in Ahmedabad and founder of the Association for Democratic Reforms, which has campaigned for better governance since 1999. “What is needed is a change in attitudes, which is a very long term process.”