India Shamed Yet Again: 22-year-old Photographer Raped in Mumbai; [Update, Aug 24: 3 Arrested, Hunt on for 2 others, Gangrape Survivor Stable]
[Latest Update; Aug 24 (evening): Media reports said that a third accused in the case has been nabbed by the police.]
[Update; Aug 24: The Mumbai Police on late Friday night arrested one more accused in the gangrape of a 22-year-old photojournalist in Mumbai. With this the police have nabbed 2 of the accused and the hunt is on for 3 remaining culprits.
The police has also recovered some crucial evidences in the case. This include, clothes of the first accused, who was arrested earlier on Friday, and beer bottles that were allegedly used by the perpetrators to threaten the girl.
Meanwhile, the gangrape survivor is said to be stable and doctors said a decision on her discharge will be taken later on Saturday.]
[Update; Aug 23: Claiming to have solved the gangrape case of a 23-year-old photojournalist in Mumbai, the police said they have arrested one accused. The four others involved in the incident have been identified and will be nabbed soon, the Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh said in a press conference.]
Mumbai, the financial capital of India, is in for some horror as news came of three among a group of five men raping a 22-year-old photographer. Reports said that three men took turn to rape the girl, after her male colleague was bashed up at an abandoned mill compound. The incident happened on Thursday evening close to the railway tracks in the Mahalaxmi area in the city. The girl, said to be interning for a lifestyle magazine in the city was shooting for a magazine assignment in the mill compound when the incident happened.
"So far about 20 suspects have been grilled but we could not get any lead. Our efforts are on to track down the accused," a police officer involved in the probe is reported to have told reporters on Friday morning.
The girl and her colleague were at Shakti Mills, in Mahalaxmi, when five men barged into the mill, telling them that they had trespassed into "railway property." The two were asked to accompany them to 'senior officers.'
During the ensuing altercation, the men attacked the girl and her colleague. They first beat up the colleague and, while two of them held him down, the other three took the girl to a corner and raped the girl. The victim and her colleague were left in the mill compound.
Late on Thursday, the traumatised victim's friends and family filed a complaint of rape. Police sent the victim to a nearby hospital for medical examination before the complaint was registered. The family said the girl had suffered some internal injuries and bleeding but was responding well to treatment.
The Mumbai Police formed a special squad comprising crime branch officials to probe into the case. The police have also released sketches of five suspects.
India has been in the news recently for the several incidences of crime against women. The country has been grappling with measures to better protect women and girls from sexual assault.
In Dec 2012, the gang-rape of a 23-year-old female physiotherapy intern in a moving bus in the national capital Delhi drew international attention on the safety of women and girls in the country. The incident had sparked massive public protests against the governments for not providing adequate security for women.
This latest incident in Mumbai will reignite debate on the safety and security of women in the country and particularly in the city which claims to be "safe" for women.