Posted on 06/04/2013 11:52:52 AM PDT by rickmichaels
SHIMLA, India - An American tourist was gang-raped by a group of men in a hill resort in northern India, police said on Tuesday, in the latest of a series of attacks that have thrown the spotlight on women’s safety in the world’s largest democracy.
The woman was picked up by three men in a truck on Monday night while hitch-hiking back to her guest house in the town of Manali in Himachal Pradesh state, police said. She had been visiting friends and had been unable to find a taxi home.
Three men were briefly detained and then released in connection with the attack, Himachal Pradesh police chief B. Kamal Kumar told Reuters, clarifying an earlier statement which appeared to say the men had been arrested.
“Sorry, I think it was misquoted. I think they were detained for questioning, they were not arrested,” Kumar told Reuters.
The woman told police her attackers took her to an isolated area and raped her. She was taken to a local hospital for preliminary tests before being taken back to her guest house, said a local police inspector, who declined to be identified.
“We are in contact with authorities but due to issues of privacy we have no further comment,” Peter Vrooman, spokesman for the U.S. embassy in New Delhi, said in an e-mail.
Instead of dropping the woman at her hotel, the men drove in a different direction for about 16 or 17 km (10.5 miles), then overpowered and raped her, the inspector said, adding that the hospital test had confirmed the sexual assault.
“Her condition is stable and she is accompanied by two women constables. All medical help has been given, and the doctors have been taking care of her,” the inspector said. “We have told her we are like family and are available for any help.”
In March, a Swiss tourist was gang-raped while on a camping trip in a forest in the central state of Madhya Pradesh. In the same month, a British woman jumped out of her hotel balcony in Uttar Pradesh state to escape a feared sexual assault.
Sex crimes are common in India. The National Crime Records Bureau says more than 24,200 rapes were reported across the country in 2011 — about one every 20 minutes.
“Women should observe stringent security precautions, including avoiding use of public transport after dark without the company of known and trustworthy companions,” according to a U.S. State Department travel advisory for India.
Police are investigating the alleged rape of a 21-year-old Irish woman working as a volunteer with a non-governmental organization in West Bengal at the weekend.
The gang rape of a 23-year-old Indian woman on a bus on Dec. 16 in New Delhi brought thousands of people onto the streets in protest, demanding better policing to prevent sex crimes. The trainee physiotherapist later died from her injuries.
Every day is like “The Jewel in the Crown” over there. Yikes.
How stupid are people. Hitchhiking?
More like women should avoid going to India.
More peacefulness from the religion that must not be spoken of.
Hitchhiking?
End of story
Northern India...close to Pakistan. The article does not mention if the assailants are Hindu Indians or Muslim Indians.
Probably need to issue those “rape whistles” along with passports for female tourists (and male tourists to the Prophets backyard).
“Northern India...close to Pakistan. The article does not mention if the assailants are Hindu Indians or Muslim Indians.”
Ha! That’s a good point!
“Sex crimes are common in India. The National Crime Records Bureau says more than 24,200 rapes were reported across the country in 2011...”
That’s outrageous. And even more outrageous is the fact that there are about 8 times as many rapes in the U.S. in a year:
According to United States Department of Justice document Criminal Victimization in the United States, there were overall 191,670 victims of rape or sexual assault reported in 2005.[4]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_in_the_United_States
1. Travel light, and don't get separated from your cargo,If you had to bail, see rules 1 and 2.
2. Carry a knife, and
3. Have something to smoke in case the driver asks.
Any good stories about having to bail?
>told her we are like family and are available for any help
Yeah right. If the authorities or residents of India wanted to reduce the chance of their savages raping women, they would publicly cut off their gonads and let hem bleed out in the streets. Same for any country including the USA. These animals need to be put down. Instead, humanity put them back on the street.
Not the victims fault, but how stupid does one have to be to even visit a savage country unarmed? Including any savage infested urban areas in America.
Actually, no. But I would only raise my thumb for pickup trucks. (Apart from it being more likely to get “picked up” in the first place, in my opinion, the demographic was safer).
We hitchhiked around town in the ‘70s. We knew everyone, including the hoodlums.
Everyone who survived hitching around the country had crazy stories to tell, and I attended a closed casket wake of a girl who was shot while hitching on the highway.
That was a long time ago.
I have sympathy for her, it’s just that when we were told what to do we were shown examples of people acting foolishly for what not to do. It’s brutal
Girls are not held responsible for this and that is a mistake.
Boys who do this are totally responsible, yet the girls don’t get to claim that they are allowed for the first time in history that they can do whatever the heck they want to do and expect everyone else to obey the rules of social order.
Without meaning to diminish the seriousness of these crimes; there are two things to consider, when comparing international crime statistics:
1. Differences in reporting rates.
2. Differences in definitions (”sexual assault” covers a lot more ground than “rape”).
Girl hitchhiking at night.
Could have happened anywhere, India isn’t special this way.
Alone and in frigen India no less...Smart move.
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