"Reminds Of Nirbhaya Case": Women's Panel Head On Delhi Woman's Gangrape

A woman from Delhi was in hospital Wednesday after being allegedly raped by five men for two days in Ghaziabad, an incident that Delhi Commission for Women chief Swati Maliwal said reminds her of the Nirbhaya case.

Swati Maliwal also claimed that the 36-year-old woman was found wrapped in a jute bag, with her hands and legs tied, and an iron rod was inserted in her private parts.

Police said there was a property dispute between the woman and the accused.

Four of the five accused have been arrested, police said.

Authorities at the Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital said the woman's condition is stable and no internal injury has been found yet.

Sources at the hospital, however, said there were signs of sexual assault and a "foreign object" was found in her body.

The DCW has also issued a notice to Ghaziabad police in connection with the case.

According to Nipun Agarwal, Superintendent of Police (City-I) Ghaziabad, the Nandgram police station received a call on October 18, informing that a woman was lying on the Ashram road.

The police took her to a nearby hospital but she insisted on getting admitted to a hospital in Delhi. She was then taken to the GTB Hospital, he said.

In her statement to the police, the woman said she had been to Ghaziabad to celebrate her brother's birthday, a day before the incident.

The SP said the victim's brother dropped her back and some people, who were known to her, picked her up from there.

The woman has alleged that she was forced to get into the car at gunpoint.

"Four of them have been arrested. Preliminary investigation has revealed that there is a property dispute between the woman and the accused. That case is already in Karkardooma court. The matter is being investigated," Agarwal said.

The SP said the victim claimed that after raping her, the accused had inserted an iron rod in her private part but when the police tried to get her medically examined at a Meerut hospital, she refused.

"After preliminary treatment, when we tried to get her medical examination conducted, she refused. Doctors referred her to the Meerut Medical college for treatment but she refused to go there.

"The woman was then taken to a Delhi hospital and is undergoing treatment there. Police is taking legal advice to obtain evidence," said the SP.

Police said the FIR was filed based on the statement of the victim's brother.

According to the FIR, the woman told her brother that she was pushed inside a car forcefully at gunpoint while waiting at Ashram Chowk.

There were four people inside the car whom she knew. After taking her to an unknown place, five men raped her. When she was in an unconscious state, the men allegedly tied her hands and legs and wrapped her inside the jute bag. Thereafter, they took her inside the vehicle to another location where they dumped her, according to the FIR.

In a statement, Dr Rajat Jhamb, media spokesperson of the GTB Hopital said the woman was admitted to the hospital on Tuesday morning. Her vitals were stable, he said.

"No internal injury has been found till now. She is under observation and admitted in the gynaecology department," he said.

According to the DCW, the woman was allegedly gang-raped and tortured for two days. The notice has been issued to Ghaziabad Senior Superintendent of Police seeking an action taken report and a copy of the FIR along with details of arrests made.

Swati Maliwal said, "The incident is very horrific and disturbing. It reminds me of the Nirbhaya case. All accused must be arrested immediately and strict action taken against them. I fail to understand how long women and children be subjected to such extreme brutality."

Nirbhaya's mother Asha Devi, who fought a long legal battle to get the accused punished, said though several years have passed, things have not changed on the ground.

"It can never be forgotten. We can never forget what our daughter went through because every day similar kind of incidents are happening across the country. It is saddening that in the last 10 years, things have not changed ... Several laws have been enacted to protect women but they have not translated into action on the ground," Asha Devi told PTI.

The 23-year-old paramedic student, referred to as Nirbhaya, was gang-raped and brutally assaulted on the intervening night of December 16-17, 2012 inside a moving bus in south Delhi by six people before being thrown out on the road.

She died on December 29, 2012 at Mount Elizabeth Hospital in Singapore.

"The perpetrators do not have any fear of law because they know that they will find support somewhere. Whenever they are being tried, some person or the other starts talking about their human rights.

"But what about the victim? Due to the trauma of recalling the incident at various stages of investigation and in court hearings, she loses the will power," she added.

Asha Devi also said some incidents are highlighted in the media and people talk about them but there are many such incidents happening across the country, which do not receive the spotlight.

Delhi's Former Social Welfare Minister Rajendra Pal Gautam said it is "shameful" that the law and order situation is "helpless" before such "beasts".

"It is very shameful where our society is heading to. Why is our law and order situation helpless before such beasts. When will fear be developed among them. I will go to GTB hospital to meet her and extend her every possible help," Gautam tweeted in Hindi.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)