The country recently saw a series of protests over rising crimes against women.
A woman was allegedly raped and brutalised with an iron rod in West Bengal's Jalpaiguri district on Saturday night, bringing back memories of the horrific 2012 Delhi gang-rape. The woman has been admitted to the Jalpaiguri Sadar Hospital in a critical state. The police have detained the accused, a relative, and a companion for questioning.
According to the police, the accused called the woman to a pond near their home in Niranjan Pat area on the pretext of discussing a land dispute. He then allegedly raped her and attacked her with a rod. Although the accused was accompanied by another person, he did not participate in the assault.
A rickshaw-puller later came upon the woman and took her home. The rape survivor's husband was not around at the time.
The beastly attack drew comparisons to the 2012 Delhi gang-rape when a 23-year-old medical student was raped on a moving bus in the national capital on the night of December 16, 2012. She died in a Singapore hospital 13 days after the incident from her injuries.
While the Supreme Court sentenced five of the rapists to death on May 5, 2017, a juvenile convict involved in the attack was freed after serving the maximum jail sentence of three years.
In recent months, the country has seen protests over the increasing number of crimes against women. The rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl near Kathua in Jammu and Kashmir in January this year and the alleged sexual assault of a 7-year-old girl by a legislator at Unnao in Uttar Pradesh on June 4, 2017 had a triggered nationwide uproar.
(With inputs from PTI)