ASSAULT ON BRAZILIAN COUPLE IN INDIA REIGNITES DEBATE ON WOMEN’S SAFETY
▶ Jharkhand incident ‘shameful,’ says actress Richa Chadha, as comedian Vir Das demands punishment
The sexual assault of a Brazilian biker and her husband by a gang in the eastern India state of Jharkhand has sparked widespread outrage as crimes against women continue to pose a problem to authorities in the country.
The woman, in her 30s, and her husband, in his 60s, were travelling on their motorcycles from India to Nepal when they were attacked by a group of men in the Dumka district.
The couple were documenting their travels under the blog name Vicente y Fernanda to about 200,000 followers on their joint Instagram account.
They had reportedly arrived from Bangladesh. They were spending the night at a makeshift tent in a remote part of Kurmahat, in the Hansdiha area of the district, on Friday.
They said they were camping because they could not find a hotel nearby and that they were attacked by at least seven men.
The woman said the group barged into the tent and assaulted her.
The men were also accused of beating the couple and stealing 10,000 rupees ($120) in cash and a ring.
“Something has happened to us that we would not wish on anyone,” said the woman in a video posted on Instagram. She had bruises on her face. “Seven men have raped me. They have beaten us and robbed us, although not many things because what
they wanted was to rape me,” she said.
Her husband also appeared in the video alongside his wife. He said that they were hit on the head with a helmet.
“My mouth is destroyed but my partner is worse than me,” he said.
The couple were seen by a police patrol van at about 10.30pm and taken to a hospital, where doctors confirmed the woman was raped.
“Initially, the patrolling party did not understand much of the incident because the woman was speaking partly in English and partly in Spanish,” said senior police officer Pitamber Singh Kherwa.
A special team has been formed to investigate the case, he added.
Four men have been apprehended so far.
India’s National Commission for Women condemned the incident and called on state police to complete their investigation quickly.
The alleged attack sparked outrage in the country, where tens of thousands of sexual assault cases are reported by women every year.
Indian actress Richa Chadha
said on social media that the incident was “shameful”, while Emmy-award-winning comedian Vir Das demanded the “strictest punishment” for those responsible.
India has introduced stringent laws to end the impunity of offenders of sexual attacks, a move that came after a 23-yearold student was assaulted in December 2012, leading to street protests.
In 2022, the National Crime Records Bureau documented more than 31,500 reported incidents of sexual assault. There were at least 22 cases involving the rape of foreign nationals.
The conviction rate was 27.4 per cent.
In 2021, sexual assaults accounted for about 7.5 per cent of cases of violence against women in India.