Female photojournalist gang-raped in Mumbai

A young woman photojournalist was gang raped while her male colleague was tied up and beaten in India’s business hub of Mumbai, police said Friday. 

The latest incident took place late on Thursday in an isolated part of a central upmarket district of Mumbai where the 23-year-old woman was doing a magazine story on old buildings in the area with a male colleague, a police officer told AFP news agency.

“The men beat up the man, tied him up and raped the woman in a secluded part of the Shakti Mills area,” the officer said, requesting anonymity.

The woman is undergoing treatment at a city hospital and has identified two of the accused by their first names, which she heard them calling each other, police said.

She has been admitted to Jaslok hospital in Mumbai.

Police say 35 people have been detained.

Police say they are questioning the detained men and have released the sketches of five men they are seeking.

Hospital officials were not immediately available for comment, but preliminary reports suggested the victim sustained multiple internal injuries, the police officer added. 

The attack on Thursday evening caused an outcry on social media, with many users shocked that it took place in Mumbai, widely considered to be India’s safest city for women.

In a similar case last December, a 23-year-old student was gang-raped on a bus in the capital, Delhi.

The woman and her male friend were brutally assaulted. The woman died of her injuries two weeks later in a Singapore hospital.

The attack sparked nationwide protests and forced the authorities to introduce tougher laws for crimes against women.

Women’s safety has been the focus of attention in India since the fatal Delhi gang rape.

Six people, including a juvenile suspect, were arrested for the crime.

One of the men was found dead in his prison cell in March. The other five are on trial and verdicts are due over the next few weeks.

Source: THE TIMES OF EARTH and Agencies