Trigger warning: This article talks about rape and gruesome physical assault.
The Ghaziabad police have taken into custody five men for gangraping, assaulting and brutalising a 38-year-old woman who is now in hospital in critical condition.
The police said they received information around 3:30 am on October 18 of a woman having been found near the Nandgram police station. "The police reached the spot immediately and rushed her to hospital," Ghaziabad SP Nipun Agarwal said in a video message on Twitter.
They said the accused were being questioned in the case.
What happened?
The woman is a resident of Nandnagari in East Delhi. She told the police that she had gone to Ghaziabad's Bombay Colony on October 16 to celebrate her brother's birthday. "When her brother dropped her back, she was kidnapped. They are known to her from before," Agarwal said.
The woman first told the police that there were two people, but later said they were five people who gangraped her.
A press release from the Delhi Commission for Women (DCW) said that the woman was tortured and brutalised for two days, after which the accused tied her in a sack and threw her on the road. "The woman was found in a very serious condition in a pool of blood," the press release read.
According to the police, there was a property dispute between the accused and the woman's family which was also taken to court.
What action has been taken?
The police have said that they have taken into custody four people and have registered a case against them. The details of the case are not yet known. "We are taking all necessary steps needed," Agarwal said.
DCW chief Swati Maliwal has issued a notice to SSP Ghaziabad in the matter and has sought an action taken report. It has also asked the police to provide it with a copy of the FIR along with details of arrests made in the matter.
Maliwal said in a statement, "We have issued notice to Ghaziabad Police. All accused must be arrested immediately and strict action must be taken against them. I fail to understand till when will women and children be subjected to such extreme brutality."
Maliwal said that the brutality of the incident reminded her of the 2012 Delhi gangrape case.