In separate videos being shared on popular messaging service WhatsApp, two women are filmed being gang-raped. Some of the six rapists are seen smiling for a cellphone camera during the horrific assaults.
The videos, believed to be six months old, were discovered by Sunitha Krishnan, a women's rights activist who runs an NGO in Hyderabad. She uploaded the images onto YouTube yesterday, asking viewers to help identify the rapists. The footage has been removed today by YouTube, stating that "it violates terms of service."
"Ten seconds into the video, I was overcome. I had to stop as I needed to throw up," she told NDTV. She said an acquaintance alerted her to the videos after receiving them on WhatsApp.
The activist said her car was stoned this morning, minutes after she appeared on NDTV to announce her #ShameTheRapistCampaign.
"If you know of anybody who has received any such videos, inform me at sunitha_2002@yahoo.com," she writes on her Facebook page. "I don't know how many people saw these videos and remained silent. WE WILL NOT."
The National Commission of Women said that it will seek the urgent intervention of the Hyderabad police. "We have been saying that there should be a mechanism in place where such incidents of cyber-crime can be curbed. The circulation needs to be stopped and the men should be brought to shame," said the panel's Shamina Shafiq.
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