By Mikaela Viqueira
Brutal assault shocks Indian village
Dumka, India, Mar 4 (EFE).- They took turns raping her for two to three hours while others beat her husband, who was left bound on the ground.
That is how the Spanish couple recounts a horrific assault they suffered in India, drawing attention to the increasing sexual violence against women in the country.
The bike-touring couple was attacked while asleep in the tent they had pitched to spend the night on Friday at a desolate area of Kunji village, some 300 km or an eight-hour drive from Ranchi, the capital of the eastern Indian state of Jharkhand.
Unaware of the impending danger in the semi-forested area, the couple woke up to a nightmare as a group of seven men surrounded them.
Attackers arrested, couple recount horror
“They took turns raping me for two to three hours while others beat my husband, who was left bound on the ground,» the Spanish-Brazilian woman told EFE, vividly remembering the bloodcurdling encounter.
Her husband, tied and kept at a distance, endured blows and kicks from the attackers, fearing that his partner might already be dead. «I didn’t see her and thought they killed her,» he said.
The visibly bruised woman said that hours later, she thought, «They were tired or didn’t want to take any more risks» when one of her rapists gave her clothes to wear before leaving the spot.
The assaulted couple, travel bloggers sharing their experiences on social media during a world tour on a motorcycle, managed to contact the police, who took them to a health center for medical treatment.
Police have arrested at least three suspects and identified others, all between 18 and 30 years old.
The couple has been transferred to a government safe house in Dumka, about 50 km from the crime spot, and appeared in court on Sunday to record their statement to a magistrate.
Despite the haunting experience, the couple, appearing calm and relieved to be alive, said they have visited 66 countries, covering 170,000 km, including various challenging regions, and even entered Afghanistan on a motorcycle during the Taliban era.
«We have several months in Africa, all over the Middle East, Iraq, Kuwait, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and a lot of time in those places,» she said during the interview with EFE in the presence of three police officers.
They had planned to leave India on Tuesday by motorcycle and travel to Nepal before flying to Spain.
Victims demand stringent penalties
They hope for justice, emphasizing that stringent penalties must be imposed on the culprits.
“Here in India, the penalties are indeed harsh, and anyone who thinks of doing something like this should think twice,» he said, insisting that despite such cases, India remains a safe country, as is the rest of Asia.
Crimes of sexual violence are rampant in India, with Jharkhand among the 10 provinces with the highest number of cases of sexual assault and rape.
Underreporting hinders justice for victims
In 2022, India reported an average of nearly 90 rapes every day, according to data from the National Crime Records Bureau. However, activists argue that the actual number could be higher due to underreporting driven by victim stigma.
The latest crime report said in all such cases, less than 2 percent were foreign victims, although this may be partly due to the difficulties in initiating a police case by non-national women, in some cases tourists, and distrust of the authorities. EFE
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