Danish tourist gang-raped near Delhi railway station

Two persons were arrested on Tuesday night in connection with alleged gang rape of a 51-year-old Danish tourist at knife-point near New Delhi railway station in the heart of the national capital.

The two arrested persons have been identified as Mahender alias Ganja (25), a resident of Uttar Pradesh's Fatehpur district and Raja, a senior Delhi Police official said.

Police have recovered an i-pod, ear plug, a Nokia mobile worth Rs 1,200 (purchased out of robbed cash), Rs 800 cash from Mahender's posession while a spectacle case and Rs 1,000 cash was recovered from Raja, police said.

The victim, who had come to India on January 1, lost her way to her hotel in Paharganj on Monday following which she approached a group of six men asking for directions.

After recording her statement with police, the woman has flown back to Denmark on Tuesday afternoon, promising to extend all sorts of cooperation in the case. She refused to undergo any medical examination.

Police had detained several people, all vagabonds, in this connection.

According to the victim's statement to the police, she first went to Agra from where she returned on Monday and checked in a hotel in Paharganj area of central Delhi.

"On Monday, she had gone to visit a museum near Connaught Place. On her way back to the hotel at around 4 pm, she lost her way. As she was looking for directions, a group of men allegedly waylaid her to a secluded place where they first robbed her cash, iPad and other valuables on knife-point and then took turns to rape her," said a police official.

Once they fled from the spot, she somehow reached her hotel around 7 pm. The victim first narrated her ordeal to some fellow tourists in the hotel and then approached the manager, who in turn called the police around 8:30 pm.

Police registered a case of gangrape under section 376 G (2) of IPC and robbery. The Danish Embassy was also informed.

The woman was then taken to the Embassy after recording her statement with the police. The victim, however, had refused to undergo a medical examination and expressed desire to return back to her country.

"Although she didn't undergo a medical test here, she can have a test in Denmark and its report can be sent to us. We also have other evidence in the case and we are sure that we would be able to crack it very soon," investigators said.

They said some people have been detained and are being questioned. "We have identified the culprits, all of them are vagabonds, they would be nabbed soon," they said.

As per the victim's statement, her alleged perpetrators took her near the Divisional Railway Officers Club near the New Delhi Railway Station where they sexually assaulted her.

A team of police officials checked the spot in search of evidences and questioned the people who worked nearby and scanned CCTV footages in a bid to identify the culprits.

She was visibly dazed after the incident and had bruises over her face and body. She gave police the physical features of the attackers, after which the suspects were rounded up.

As criticism mounted on his government following the case, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal met Lt Governor Najeeb Jung and requested him to direct police to improve security for women in the city 

"I met the LG today and discussed the issue with him. Both of us agreed that we will ask the Police Commissioner to come prepared with an analysis of rape cases and also ask why so many rapes take place in Delhi," Kejriwal said.

He said he along with Jung and the police Commissioner would meet the Chief Justice of India to urge him to set up more fast track courts in the city to deal with cases of sexual violence.

"We will see what strong deterrence we can have by having fast track courts," he said.

Police would be specifically asked to examine three aspects -- locality, place of crime and persons involved -- while dealing with cases of rape and suggest containing them, Kejriwal said. 

"Is it locality, venue, person or situation specific? We will ask police to examine and then take steps accordingly. If it happens in dark areas, then we can light them up," he said.

Senior Delhi minister Manish Sisodia described the incident as "terrible".

"We will see how vigilance can be strengthened so that such cases do not happen in the future," he said.

Last year saw a steep hike in offences against women with molestation and rape cases rising alarmingly by 412 and 129 per cent respectively.

According to police, 1559 cases of rape were registered in 2013 against 680 in 2012, a hike of 129.26 per cent. As many as 3347 cases of molestation were also reported in the past year as against 653, which is a rise of 412.56 per cent. 

Image Courtesy Wikimedia Commons